


Stronger Than You Know

by AttackoftheDarkCurses, thebuildingsnotonfire



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Belligerent Sexual Tension, Canon-Typical Violence, Clois Inspired, F/M, Fluff, Healthy Communication, Identity Reveal, Knights of Ren - Freeform, Origin Story, Reporter!Rey, Rey isn't an idiot but Ben might be, Reylo - Freeform, Romance, Secret Identity, Secret Identity Shenanigins, Slow Burn, Superhero!Kylo Ren, canon character death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-06-21
Packaged: 2020-02-10 14:25:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 13
Words: 67,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18662203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AttackoftheDarkCurses/pseuds/AttackoftheDarkCurses, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thebuildingsnotonfire/pseuds/thebuildingsnotonfire
Summary: “I wish I believed there was such a thing as heroes.”They sat next to each other in silence, listening to the wind whipping through the trees, and watching brightly colored leaves get pulled from branches and blown around.“Maybe there could be,” she whispered. “Maybe someone just needs to be brave enough.”





	1. Safe and Sound

**Author's Note:**

  * For [nancylovesreylo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/nancylovesreylo/gifts).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is mostly written - we'll be posting on Tuesdays and Saturdays! A BIG thank-you to Nancy for this wonderful, fun prompt. We delved a bit further into it than we'd planned, so we hope you like it! 
> 
> Another big thanks to [ Waffles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceWaffleHouseTM/pseuds/SpaceWaffleHouseTM) for beta'ing this fic for us - if you haven't read her fics, I'd highly suggest checking them out!

Safe. This part was blurry around the edges, but it was safe.

The dream always started that way - as cozy as a child tucked into bed without a care or concern in the world. Half-dream, half-memory; he was a kid in it. Five, if that. Old enough to keep the memory, young enough for him to be unsure, as an adult, of his exact age.

" _Which one do you want to hear, Ben?"_

The echo of his father's voice sounded low and comforting. As comforting as his father's arm around him. He'd tucked Ben into bed and his mother had been watching them from his bedroom doorway, smiling down at her two men.

The bedding was  _Star Trek_ themed, covered with little  _USS Enterprise_ 's, something his mother had found hilarious for some reason. Ben hadn't understood why until he'd grown up and found out that his father had come from the stars.

For now, in the dream, he was a little boy who liked Spock and didn't understand why his father complained about inaccuracies whenever they watched Ben's favorite show.

As a child, he'd hesitated for a minute, pretending to think of an answer to his father's question, as if he wouldn't demand the same story he wanted every night.

The same story he would tell himself every night when he became older and more haunted. When he was in desperate need a hint of that  _hope_  that had come so easily as a kid.

" _The Knights of Ren!"_

His father had laughed and nodded, as though he'd been expecting that.

" _Okay, kid."_

He'd budged over more on the bed so he wasn't hanging off it, and Ben had curled up next to him.

Solid and safe. As a kid, those were the words he used to describe Han Solo. As an adult, those words hadn't changed. They'd only become a distant memory.

" _So... the Knights of Ren."_  He'd cleared his throat, and had begun, " _A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, there were heroes - the Knights of Ren. Five mantles of power almost as old as the universe itself were discovered and taken up by the strongest and bravest warriors in the galaxy. The mantles they controlled gifted them each with a special ability, and they used their powers to fight for what was right. They were such a good team, they were unstoppable when they worked together..."_

Leia had rested her head against the doorframe, sighing.

" _One Knight was from the planet Corellia. He was the strongest and bravest of them all, and he was barely a man when he took up the mantle of_  Kylo Ren  _and learned to use the power that came with it. It was a dangerous job, but over a few decades they fought together, and the Knights became his family. For a long time, they were his only family in the whole galaxy."_

At that, his father had paused, and his eyes had changed... they'd gotten a little sad, a little watery. But then he'd stared down at Ben and kissed his forehead and murmured something about it all being  _worth it_.

Ben hadn't understood what that meant - as an adult, he still didn't - but as a child he'd smiled, and leaned back against his father, waiting for the story he knew by heart to continue.

Like every other night, the dream changed.

What was safe and solid was yanked away - torn from beside him.

Asleep or awake, Ben would have given anything for the dream to end right then and there, because what happened next was a fact, a pure heart-wrenching  _fact,_ more solid and true than Han Solo or his silly, hopeful stories had ever been.

He was older in this part of the dream. Almost fifteen, and for some reason Ben didn't understand, they were going too fast. But he wasn't the driver, and him knowing they were going too fast didn't help the situation.

As an adult, he understood that his father must have known the implications of their speed, too. Maybe that's why the man had schooled his expression into something calm and resigned, and reached over toward the passenger's seat, bracing his arm over Ben's chest.

" _It'll be okay, kid,"_  he'd said. " _I've got you."_

Something had hit him then - almost like an invisible force, slamming into his chest from the spot his father's hand touched, and it prickled out into the rest of his body like a warmth he could feel flowing through his veins.

And then the feeling was gone.

They were still going too fast to stop. The turn was too sharp to make, and brakes must have failed and in an instant, they weren't on the road. The car tumbled and rolled and  _fell_  in a way cars weren't meant to - off the road, down a banking, through trees. It all happened so fast and it ended with a sharp stop, and if anyone else had been around to witness it, they would have known the same thing Ben had.

Nobody could have survived that crash.

Nobody, except-

_BEEP. BEEP. BEEP._

He jerked up in bed, gasping for air, and slammed his fist into the much-too-fragile alarm clock that had put an abrupt end to his dream.

Ben groaned, at the memories and at the four-day-old alarm clock that was in pieces, making a pitiful attempt at ringing. It sounded like a dying animal, and another hit put it out of its misery.

The bed strained under him as he dropped back against his pillow, and he stared up at the plain white popcorn ceiling of his bedroom.

Fifteen years worth of nights full of that same dream.

Death and loss weren't easy things to move past, but he'd at least hoped the dream would go away.

He shut his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out.

Maybe he'd survived, but this wasn't living.

* * *

"Hey buddy, sounds like you need another alarm clock."

Ben grumbled something unintelligible even to him as he trudged out into the kitchen in sweatpants and poured coffee, being extra careful not to shatter the glass of the coffee pot. He'd broken enough things for one morning.

From the kitchen's island, his roommate, Poe, was almost screaming out his concern, and Ben winced. He was waiting for an explanation. Not feeling like explaining, Ben shook his head and sipped at the steaming hot coffee. He turned his back to his best friend, staring out the little window over their kitchen sink.

There were tiny plants filling the window sill. Succulents. He stopped to wonder how long Poe had kept them there. He was so stuck in his own head he hadn't noticed them before, but the bright green of them spoke of their health and resilience.

If ever a genie showed up to grant him wishes, Ben would only wish to have the same resilience as those plants. His abilities gave him strength, but he would have traded those abilities and everything else he had to return to his  _normal._  The normal of not dwelling, not having his every waking (or rather,  _sleeping_ ) thought focus so heavily on  _him_.

What if  _this_  was his normal?

Ben sighed at the depressing thought and turned back to Poe. Overwhelming concern was still there in his roommate's mind, but a little curiosity had seeped in.

"Yeah," he nodded, "Yeah, I need a new alarm clock."

It seemed Poe wanted to say something else, knowing Ben had something other than electronics on his mind, but he didn't. "That's the fourth one this month, y'know. Should we check to see if Amazon sells a ten-pack or something?"

"I doubt it. Still," he shrugged, "it's better than using my phone. Can you imagine what would happen if I broke three or four a month?"

"Even combined our paychecks wouldn't be enough to budget that in," Poe laughed. "We've got to get you something harder to break. Or one of those ones that rolls away after it goes off? I heard some students over at MIT invented one that rolls off your nightstand, so you have to get out of bed and catch it to shut it off."

"Sure, but I'm guessing it wouldn't be fast enough. Plus, that's got to be expensive. I think it's better in the long run to buy a bunch of cheap ones."

Poe hummed, returning to his coffee and newspaper, and silence fell between them for a minute. When his roommate spoke again, the concern was back in full - his voice was quiet, and a little serious. "You're still having that dream, huh?"

"Yeah," Ben admitted. "Part of me thinks I always will, but I don't want to talk about it."

It wasn't quite sympathy he felt from Poe. It was warm and pulsing with brotherly fondness, but there was pity, too. But he knew Ben well - better than anyone except his mother - and he cleared his throat, and folded up the newspaper, changing the subject. "So, Holdo called me with a job offer before you woke up. She wants me to start today, if I'm able."

Ben perked up at that. Last week, Poe had come into his office at the newspaper to interview with his boss - they needed a new photojournalist and Ben had jumped at the chance to recommend his friend.

"Why didn't you start with that?" he asked, grinning as he tried to let the negativity of the morning go. "I told you, Amilyn's great. She's demanding, but she's a good person to work for."

The man shrugged, but gave Ben a smile. "I didn't mention it earlier because you looked like you needed to talk. But... yeah, I got the job. Will you mind commuting with me?"

Rolling his eyes, Ben replied dryly, "The building's two blocks away. If you mean  _do I mind walking to work with you_ , then no, I don't mind."

"Good." Poe stood up, nodding toward the clock on the microwave. "Because your alarm clock might have been a little broken before you  _really_  broke it and if we don't leave now, we'll be late."

Ben followed his gaze. It was almost an hour later than he'd thought.

" _Shit."_

* * *

Rey Johnson had a strict routine.

Up at 6 AM thanks to her vintage Batman alarm clock, a rigid thirty minutes allotted for reading three different competing newspapers (accompanied by a single piece of toast, two eggs, and eight ounces of orange juice), another twenty minutes for showering and other various hygienic practices, fifteen minutes for dressing and the bit of makeup application she indulged in, and then she was out the door.

With luck, she'd be at her beat-up but functional wooden desk at the  _Prime Gazette_ before 7:30 and have about ten minutes to organize it and settle in, at which point her boss, Amilyn Holdo, would walk by and give her a short nod that Rey imagined meant something like  _good work!_

That nod probably didn't mean  _good work_ , because Amilyn Holdo didn't pass praise around for showing up, but Rey could at least pretend. Positive thinking - without it, she wouldn't get through the day, because upon arriving at work that Monday morning, she'd found out who was moving into the empty desk next to her.

She'd hoped the new guy - some new photojournalist Holdo had hired - would sit next to her, but her boss had wanted to keep people organized by job. Reporters with reporters, and photography in some special corner of the floor, off to the side of the rows of desks and cubicles so he'd have more space and natural light or whatever. As if their office got any natural light, anyway. It was lit by unwelcoming and flickering fluorescent tube lights that were set into the hung ceiling.

Logically it made sense, but it meant her new neighbor was that smarmy, brown-nosing, son of a-

A light, friendly voice interrupted her angry stewing.

"Hi! I'm the new temp, could you tell me where Amilyn Holdo's office is? Sorry, I'm supposed to report there, but there aren't any names on the doors."

Rey blinked, glancing over at the owner of the voice. A petite Asian woman with her dark hair pulled back into a braid that hung over her shoulder waved. She vibrated with so much energy Rey had to wonder if she'd gotten one too many espresso shots in her coffee.

"Oh. Sure." She looked around, intending to point towards Amilyn's office, but the door was still shut. "Uh, looks like she's not in yet. She shouldn't be long, though." Gesturing to the still-empty chair at the desk next to her, she said, "You can sit and chat, if you want. I'm Rey."

"Rose." The woman held out her hand, and Rey shook it while she smiled at her. When Rose helped herself to the spinny chair that was tall enough to leave her legs dangling, she sighed, and asked, "So... do you enjoy working here? I'm supposed to be filling in for the office manager while she's on maternity leave."

"Right, I forgot she was going out this week," Rey nodded. "Well, it's not a  _bad_  office. Busy, demanding, maybe. I guess it's like every office," she shrugged. "Some people are great. Others suck."

Rose tilted her head. "Anyone I should avoid?"

"The man whose desk you're sitting at, for one."

The woman seemed ready to shoot out of the seat, but Rey waved her off. "Don't worry, he won't be in for another hour. The guy can't even be bothered to get here on time most mornings, and he's  _still_  Holdo's favorite."

"Oof." Rose winced, relaxing back into the chair. "One of those?"

"Yep. He gets all the good headlines, too. Doesn't even have to work for it."

Rose sighed, glancing down at her outfit, and adjusted the cardigan she wore over her dark blue pencil skirt. "Well, if you ever want to vent, I sit... well, I don't know where I sit, but I'll let you know when I find out."

Sipping at her coffee, Rey grinned. She put the mug (a  _World's Best Reporter_  mug she absolutely hadn't stolen from the kitchen when her Spiderman mug had gone missing) she held back down on her desk. "So, new to the city, or new to this office?"

"The city," Rose nodded. "Temping isn't a long-term solution, but it works for now. At least this placement is for a few months. Now I need to find an apartment."

Rey's eyes snapped wide open. "You need an apartment? How do you feel about a roommate?"

"I mean, that sorta depends? Murderers are a hard pass. So are drummers."

" _Wow_. Drummers? That's oddly specific."

"Hey," she shrugged, "A girl's gotta sleep."

Rey laughed, getting the attention of a coworker two desks away who wasn't a morning person and who'd probably gotten too used to her being grumpy, rather than laughing.

"Okay, fair enough. Well, what about me? I'm not a musician of any sort and I won't murder you. Probably." She smiled at the woman who seemed surprised at her suggestion, and explained, "I have a nice two bedroom not too far from here, but I found out a few weeks ago that my landlord is raising the rent. It's still manageable, but the second bedroom's just sitting there, so last week I put up fliers to sublet it."

"No takers?"

She bit her lip, admitting, "Nobody normal. One guy asked if I had a problem with picking a day of the week during which we would go nude in the apartment."

"You're kidding."

"I wish. He suggested we call it  _naked Wednesdays_. I didn't even bother to call him out on stealing the idea from  _Friends_."

Rose snorted. "Yikes."

"Though, the worst one was the woman who showed up drunk, spent a half-hour trying to argue with me because she claimed it was  _her_  apartment, and tried to steal two bottles of my wine. I had to call the police to get her to leave."

The woman next to her groaned. "I promise, I'm normal. No naked Wednesdays, and I don't drink. At least not  _that_  much. I think my most annoying habits are setting multiple alarms and taking too long in the shower. I also keep too many plants."

"Hmm. I can live with that." Rey laughed again, and then her smile fell. " _Shit_. He's here. You might want to go wait by Holdo's office."

Rey scrunched up her nose in annoyance at the man who'd walked in, talking amicably with the new hire.

It wasn't enough that he was a brilliant writer who was always in the right place at the right time. It wasn't enough that he could be charming and well spoken, and the boss's favorite.

He was handsome, too. It was almost impossible to hate him.

_Almost._

But she sort of hated him. Hated how in the year they'd been working together, he'd gotten all the good stories. Hated how he got all the praise. Hated how his deep brown eyes were so mesmerizing. Hated how his broad shoulders and strong chest that stretched out sweaters  _did_  things to her.

"He? He who?" Rose asked.

With a sigh, she muttered, "Ben Solo."

"Wait,  _that's_  Ben Solo?"

"Unfortunately." Rose's surprised tone registered in her mind, and she took her eyes off the man and glanced over at her new friend. "Why? You sound like you've heard of him."

The woman's expression went neutral in a microsecond.

"Oh, it's nothing," Rose assured her. Then she added, "It just sounded familiar."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on Twitter!
> 
> [ Attack's Twitter](https://twitter.com/AttackotDC)  
> [ Onfire's Twitter](https://twitter.com/thebuildingsno1)


	2. Unstoppable

Ben and Poe spent the elevator trip in silence.

As confident as he'd made himself out to be, it was still Poe's first day on the job. The media industry was cutthroat and Ben knew his friend was looking forward to putting his degree in photography to good use. A few moments of quiet were the least he could give the man, especially when he could feel Poe's emotions. They pressed against him like a warm shower with every floor they passed.

At least they were the only ones in the elevator. Ben still remembered the rank nausea headache he'd developed when he and half a dozen others had gotten stuck in it one sweltering summer day. Small cramped boxes didn't make for happy people.

A spike of raw  _something_  from Poe's direction tore Ben from his thoughts as they neared the thirty-second floor.

He didn't even glance over at his roommate. Instead, he gave him a light punch on the shoulder, jolting the man from whatever deep spiral toward which he was heading.

"Buck up," Ben murmured. "You got this. You've earned it."

"That ESP thing again, huh?" Poe's chuckle was reedier than normal, but neither of them acknowledged it.

"I've told you, it's not ESP. Not exactly. It's just... feelings."

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

Their conversation was cut short by the elevator's arrival at their floor.

The  _Prime Gazette_ was situated near the top of a high-rise building in the center of downtown Hosnia, and they'd just switched to an open-floor model, having done away with cubicles. With the new hiring of Poe and a few other staffers, their editor-in-chief had restructured the layout of the whole floor to keep everyone grouped by area of interest.

It wasn't a terrible idea, but it came with the unfortunate  _(fortunate?)_  consequence of saddling him with a new neighbor.

Rey Johnson.

Most mornings, he'd chug half a dozen cups of coffee at his desk in the corner, but with the office restructuring his secluded sanctuary had been swapped for a spot that was two-thirds the size of his old one.

At least he wasn't next to the few windows that looked out onto the city. Sunlight only worsened his daily headaches.

Passing by his coworkers, Ben tried not to wince as tempers flared and ire drew as other minor inconveniences piled up for everyone. He slipped in his mental shield - the proverbial barrier between him and the others in his mind, dulling their acrid irritation.

This was why he'd liked his quiet place in the corner.

He came to a stop when he saw that his new desk was already occupied. A young-looking woman was fighting a valiant battle to not sink in his personal office chair. She gave Ben a clinical once-over before simple curiosity took over, mixed with a nervousness that seemed almost  _artificial?_

Ignoring that odd suspicion, Ben looked to Rey instead. She'd crossed her arms and was leaning back in her chair, looking unimpressed with his tardiness.

"Good morning," Ben said. His mother at least taught him how to be polite, even if he could feel the patient torrent of Rey's emotions not even five feet away. "Did the seats get moved around again?"

"You're late, Solo. Morning meeting hasn't started yet, so you're lucky, because I'm not taking notes for you again if you keep coming in late."

"I never asked you to." Ben pinched the bridge of his nose underneath the rim of his fake glasses and tried a more diplomatic approach. "Though I appreciated it."

"I'll keep your appreciation in mind the next time Holdo asks me where you are."

Her words were frosty, but there was a rolling boil coming from her direction. He double-checked his shields, but no - they were still up. Rey just had a special talent for making him crazy.

"For the record, I'm not happy with our new seating arrangement, either." Then, because the woman sitting in his chair still hadn't taken the hint, he shot her one of his special looks... the kind that got people to leave him alone.

Sonofa-  _she was smiling._

Something small and harmless hit Ben's head. He startled and looked back at Rey, who was glaring up at him and halfway through crumpling another blank sheet on her desk.

"No scaring the new people," she chided. "I don't care if you drink your coffee churlish and surly every morning, but normal people use their words. And don't give me that look. It's not my fault if people steal your chair and desk to get actual work done when you're late."

"Now see, I'd believe that last part about getting work done, except-" Ben spun her monitor around, and grinned. "Except, you were looking up BuzzFeed's  _Top 10 Baked Goods for Girl's Night In And Their Best Paired Movies_. Glass houses, Rey. Glass houses. Or are you researching for a new article?"

"Excuse you!" Rey tried swiveling her monitor back, and she used both hands to wrench the corner he was holding out of his grasp. She whipped the screen back around, brushing her fingers over his knuckles, and he felt something searingly hot and confusing rise from her. "I was talking with Rose, helping her acclimate until Holdo gets here to start her onboarding. Don't go touching my stuff!"

"Sorry," he mumbled, then ducked his head. Things grew tense as nearby coworkers pretended to not be listening in on their argument.

There was color in her face now, a burning like the late autumn leaves. Ben swallowed and looked away, acutely aware of how the pressing headache from coming into work was subsiding. In place of it was a bonfire of emotions flowing from his desk-mate, pricking and prodding at his mind.

The stranger stood and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Rose! Sorry for taking your chair. I don't know where I'll be working, so Rey was just keeping me company."

"It's fine." He took his seat and stretched his arms above him. "It's not you. I'm just grumpy."

"So, same as always, then?" Rey pitched in. She fixed her eyes on the desk in front of her, and there was a stubbornness to her jaw warning him not to provoke her.

He rolled his eyes and watched as Rose excused herself. There was something light and willowy flickering against the edge of Ben's mental shields as she bid herself away.

Ben felt the usual cake-lite taste of humor and repressed laughter from her, but it was strange. As if someone had used splenda instead of sugar. Ben frowned at the oddness of it, but didn't mention it.

Rose was unusual, but she wasn't his problem at the moment.

As he opened his email and checked his work messages, everyone around them seemed to take a collective exhale. They had declared a ceasefire, to be renegotiated at a later date. Probably at lunchtime.

The headache returned, like a dammed up wall with an unpatched hole in its foundation. Emotions from people trickled through - not just from his coworkers, but even faint and brief flickers from people in the floors above and below. And outside, bypassing the plaster and rebar of the outside wall, was a pressure as real as any gravitational force. Ben had to force himself back and away from that well... that ocean of sensation that threatened to swallow him whole if he let it.

Most of the gifts he'd gotten from his father's side were miraculous, but Ben could have done without this one. The ability to lift cars as easily as breathing was great, but walking down to the local bodega gave him a migraine.

Rey grabbed a small plastic container from her drawer and tossed it over to him. "Here. You look like you need it."

Ben saw the Advil bottle fly to him in slow motion. He caught it, one hand going round the middle.

"I... thanks." He hoped she mistook any redness in his face as lingering embarrassment from their fight, and he hunched his shoulders as he popped a few and downed them. With his physiology, they'd have no effect on him, but it was the thought that counted.

"Don't mention it."

The bonfire simmered to something spikey and pointed.

Ben avoided highly emotional people. He never knew how fast or fickle the pendulum could swing in the other direction, but she'd always been nothing less than a mild fireplace, burning, crackling, and persevering through his presence. He usually wasn't in most people's company long enough to develop a recognizance, but Rey...

She was unforgettable.

* * *

Rey spent the morning making calls and arranging meetings with her various contacts across Hosnia. She'd heard a rumor that problems were popping up between the local police and neighborhoods in the southern part of the city, and Holdo wanted ears to the ground for any new changes on that front. So, she'd put her head down, ground her teeth to something dangerous when Holdo pulled Solo into her office and  _didn't_  spend the next ten minutes shouting at him for his lateness, then breathed a sigh of relief when the man power-walked his way out of the office after barking for the new photography guy to follow him.

After reviewing three of her articles that were awaiting editing approval, Rey rescued Rose from where she'd been floundering with carrying an armful of paper reams to the copier.

" _I'm not used to working with so much paper,"_  Rose had said, a fact which Rey found funny considering she was temping for an office manager.

They spent lunch arranging Rose's move-in date and the fees she'd need to pay before commenting on how alien they both felt without coffee in their systems.

After snagging a car battery's worth of caffeine, Rey spent the afternoon brainstorming new articles. By the time she squinted out the window, noticing a deep bloody orange sky, Monday had ended with a drawn-out sigh - both exhausting and relieving.

Solo hadn't come back since that morning, though Poe, the new guy, had run back inside around halfway through the workday before speeding out again.

"Ugh, enough," Rey muttered aloud, annoyed with herself for wasting so much brain power on them. She checked her phone and the rest of her energy sapped out of her as she realized she'd worked straight through the end of close.

Grabbing her notebook, she stuffed it and the wad of postage notes she'd marked in her bag and finger combed her ponytail back to something approaching human.

The sky was still creeping closer to the dying light of dusk as she got outside, but the surrounding buildings doused the streets and people below in shadow. It'd be a windy night, full of howling and invisible screams brought to life by the cold towers around her, and she turned up the collar of her coat to hide her shiver.

Luckily, she lived near work, so she'd never needed to brave the horrendous levels of traffic any city suffered during rush hour. She set off on her way home, making plans to stop by the closest pizza joint on the way.

It was dark by the time she got to  _Maz's,_ the cheerfully lit storefront at the foot of an apartment complex that looked three decades out of place. There were old, ugly advertisements in the store's window and inside there were mismatched chairs and tables with red-and-white checkered tablecloths.

A sweet, spicy smell assaulted her when she entered, and for the first time since leaving her office building Rey breathed easy. It was like sauce and cheese, and laughter.

"Maz!" Rey called out to the kitchen as soon as the door closed behind her. "Make me a special. I'm celebrating!"

"Take a number!"

Rey nodded to the regulars who she'd gotten to know once or twice while waiting around, but she ignored anyone giving her strange looks. After the day she'd had, she was looking forward to lazing on her couch with slices of anchovy-topped jalapeno Hawaiian pizza and forgetting everything about her day, including the arrogant, obtrusive, tall, broody...

... _._ Ben Solo who was staring  _right_ at her.

"What are you doing here?" she blurted out.

He looked around the restaurant, noting the faded pictures on the walls and clearly fighting back a smirk. "Getting food?"

"I can see that. I'm asking what are you doing  _here?"_

In the time she'd known him, she'd never imagined him to be the type to stop by a place like this. She'd always assumed he had a more refined palate. Maz's would be too plebeian for his tastes.

The man ran his hand through his hair, flitted his gaze to the surrounding people, and grimaced. "I get hungry, too, you know. And after the day I've had...never mind. I just wanted something greasy and Poe forgot to buy groceries this past weekend." He shrugged, awkwardly. "I'm only human."

His eyes fell to the floor, and Rey hated herself for lingering on the locks that fell through his fingers like rivulets of darkness.

"Whatever." She turned away before he caught her staring and faced the counter.

She'd spent too long wondering if she should open reparations with him. They hadn't always been so antagonistic with each other.

In fact, once upon a time Rey had liked Ben Solo.

Before Holdo had put them on more of the same kinds of assignments, Ben had impressed her with his ability to avoid office politics and drama. It was inevitable since they worked at a newspaper - everyone had an opinion on something, whether it was politics or whose responsibility it was to clean out the office kitchen.

Rey wasn't immune to it, but Ben had always stayed away from the crowd. He preferred to observe the loudest people with dark glittering eyes that reminded her of a large cat.

Then she'd realized the reason he always held himself apart wasn't because of a mistaken sense of humility, but because he saw himself above everyone, in a way. His aloofness became unconscionable arrogance and the careful moderation of his words turned out to be perfect empty sounds to appease the people around him.

Ben Solo didn't so much as hold people at arm's length as he did hide in a fallout bunker inured from social interaction.

"So, you come here often?"

Her train of thought interrupted, Rey tugged at her collar, cursing Maz for not regulating the heat in her restaurant properly. She looked to Ben, who had his hands in his pockets and was so clearly trying to seem disaffected that it defeated the purpose of the pose.

"I live close by," Rey said, keeping her voice neutral. So far, this was the closest to a pleasant conversation she'd had with him. "Maz makes good food. She doesn't do deliveries, but it's worth it to come pick something up on the walk home. What about you?"

He shrugged again.

Why'd those exceptional shoulders have to be attached to  _him?_

"Like I said, Poe - the new guy, he's my roommate - he handles the shopping for us, but he was too busy to go yesterday."

Rey wondered why he didn't just go out to the supermarket himself but she kept quiet, not wanting to ruin their moment of peace.

"He's the one who recommended this place, and since it's his first day, I figured I'd do him a solid. I'm not one for junk food." He winced just as a bunch of motorcycles passed by the restaurant. "My mom kept me on a healthy diet growing up, so I never developed an appreciation for it."

"So... what? You got carrots and broccoli for Halloween instead Skittles and Snickers?"

_Because if so,_  Rey thought,  _well done, Mama Solo._

"Of course not." He rolled his eyes. "It was raisin boxes."

An image of a gawking and lanky kid with Ben Solo's ears, pouring out his nights (healthy) earnings from a bright orange pumpkin basket popped into her head. She couldn't help the immediate fit of giggles from overtaking her.

"Are you okay?" Ben looked at her, wide-eyed. There was a flush creeping up his neck that'd provide fuel to her thoughts later, but the effect was more  _surprised dork_ and less  _astonished jackass_. "Hey, you're kinda' worrying me..."

His tone was  _earnest_. Rey scrambled to answer him even as a heretofore unknown giddiness demanded more laughter. "I'm fine!" she said, "I'm fine. It just surprised me."

He almost looked embarrassed. No, scratch that. He  _was_  embarrassed.

Cute.

"So I'm 'Ben' now?" he asked. Gone was the sharpness in his tone, replaced with something either relieved or befuddled. "Whatever happened to 'Solo'?"

Rey snorted. "I'll let you know if I see him again."

He mumbled something unintelligible, but she caught the gradual reddening of his ears and that fueled a new bout of giggling.

The look he shot her was startled - like he thought she was a madwoman laughing out loud in the middle of a pizza parlor... which she was.

As if he himself couldn't control it, he smiled, and then chuckled.

"Ha!" She pointed at him, unheeding of everyone's stares around her. "There we go! And they said you weren't human."

His smile vanished, and for a moment she thought he looked  _panicked_.

"Who told you that?"

The switch in his tone was jarring. Or it would have been, if Rey hadn't gotten used to dealing with the man's overbearing and paradoxical attitudes on a daily basis.

She rolled her eyes. "Calm down. I was talking about your laugh. I was only pointing out that it's possible for you to not be an insufferable jackass."

"I'm not an insufferable jackass," he said, stiffly.

It was already happening - the same thing that happened every time she saw the  _Prime Gazette's_  reclusive reporter open up. Ben Solo avoided honest communication like he was allergic to it.

"Sure. Whatever you say. I'm sure you're also not over an hour late most days, right? You'd  _never_  scare off our coworkers, and you  _never_  steal headlines from people in the office, right?"

"It's not  _my_ fault Holdo reassigns those stories to me." He hesitated before adding, "Speaking of, she wants me to take that factory worker strike story you've been working on. Said she had another idea for you."

A river of ice ran through her, passing through her heart and burying deep in her subconscious, where her fears and insecurities were most rooted.

She'd been working with the union leaders for months, getting interviews, learning about the various safety violations, the unfair wage pay.

All that time and effort, just so Holdo could hand the story to him?

"Don't blame me," he spread his hands to the sides as if he couldn't have argued Rey's case for her. "I'm only the messenger."

He looked upset, behind that veneer of cool aloofness.

Rey's mouth was like ash and she could sense the tension headache coming a mile away. After this news, she welcomed it. Anything to distract from the black hole beneath her feet.

"This is what I mean," she pointed out, "Maybe you don't steal stories, but you never protest when Holdo offers them up, do you?"

Ben went quiet. A real,  _human_  emotion crossed his expression before he wiped that off, too.

"Yeah, thought so." She patted his arm in fake consolement. "Don't worry, I'm sure you'll forget this conversation by morning."

"Hey, excuse you," Ben snapped, pulling back his arm, as if burned. "At least I don't go around making snap judgments about people."

"Except, it's  _not_  a snap judgment, Solo. I'm right, and you know it."

There was a hot ball of molten lead churning guiltily through her gut with her statement, even if what she was saying was true. Whether or not it was true, he looked like a kicked puppy. A very large, very insensitive puppy.

"We've worked in the same office for a while, so trust me. I'm not the first person who you've done this to. Remember Plutt?"

Plutt had been selling exclusive story information to other papers and media companies. He'd been angling for a better employment contract, and he was reviled in their office for it.

"That asshole?" he scoffed. "Yeah, I do. Are you saying I'm as bad as him?"

Rey shook her head. "No, it's just that when everyone found out why he'd turned on the Gazette, no one faulted him for feeling wronged. You'd stolen three exclusives from under him in as many months and it's hard not to be bitter about that."

"I don't regret doing my  _job_. Holdo reassigned those stories because she thought I could do a better job, so if you have any problem with it, take it up with her."

"That's not the point! I'm not blaming you for Holdo's choices. I'm just saying,, don't you think you could have done more for the guy? Gotten the job done collaboratively instead of lone-wolfing it? I  _know_ Holdo must have offered that as an option."

He stared blankly at her.

"Or, what about when Jessika was going out on maternity leave? Remember the party we threw her? Remember how you yelled at us to lower the music because you had work to do? Funny how you had to keep to a regular work schedule  _then_."

Ah, there it was. A flash of shame crossed his face before he avoided her gaze.

"I'm surprised to find out you even  _have_  a roommate. Either the guy's a saint, or he knows a deep dark secret of yours. I've never seen you willingly talk to anyone other than me, and I'm pretty unavoidable these days."

His nostrils flared, and she could see him calm himself before trying to recoup the ground she'd gained in this argument.

"It's not my job to play nice with people, Rey," he said cooly. "I go in, do my job, and leave. It's not my fault if other people don't enjoy dealing with someone who won't coddle them and who doesn't care what they think of  _Game of Thrones_. Some people prefer being left alone."

"There's a difference between preferring to be left alone and being an asshole," Rey spat back. Her hackles rose at his condescending tone. "Sure, being  _nice_  might not be part of your job but it's not hard, either. Sympathy and  _kindness_  won't cost you anything."

She almost wanted him to challenge her on that, but just as she predicted, he opened his mouth as if to protest, and then shut it again, looking... thoughtful.

How long was Maz taking with her order? Several customers had gotten their orders, and now they were the last two people waiting in the pizza parlor. It seemed everyone else had left for quieter pastures, and Rey wanted nothing more than to follow suit. She was done with this conversation.

Righteous anger and deep resentment that left her sick stirred beneath her skin, searching for release.

There was a flip side to her argument. Having sympathy for others meant having sympathy for the devil, too. Especially if you were the reason the devil looked so mopey.

"Never mind," Rey sighed, after several minutes of awkward dancing around the subject in her head. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have-"

Her words died as he whipped around to focus on something outside. Before she could ask what he was doing, he'd turned back to her, eyes wide, face pale.

His tension unease had been replaced with wide-eyed alarm.

She opened her mouth to speak and-

_Whoomph._

That's when the shock wave hit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	3. One Call Away

There was a sound like wind chimes through a distorted megaphone; the tinkling and shrieking of a broken Christmas ornament on a scale Rey had never heard before. Pressure and wind burst through the store, deafening her eardrums.

Someone was screaming.

Something - many somethings - cut into her legs and her hand, and it was that feeling of pain that told her she was still alive.

When she came to she recognized the shape above her covered in the red stained white button-up. It clung to his body, sticky with blood.

Rey blinked, realized the world blurred for a brief second, and focused on the chest in front of her face. Yes, a chest. Hair. Hair, too. Eyes, ears, a mouth. A mouth that was saying something.

"-ey! Rey! Are you okay? Are you-  _shit_ , that's a lot of blood."

She looked past the mouth and tried to grasp the expression on his face. Furrowed brows, clenched teeth, dark eyes full of concern.

"Can you move?"

Her mind was too far and too close at the same time. Proper procedure, she noted groggily, was to give her space so they could assess any injuries she may have sustained.

The less technical part of her noted it was very sweet of him to be so concerned about her after the reaming she'd just given him.

"M'fine." It took her a second to recognize her own voice. It sounded thin and tinny. She could hear ringing. "I swear. I'm fine."

"You don't sound fine." Ben looked her over, inspecting for injuries. One of the lenses in his glasses had cracked, leaving a spider web of cracks blocking one eye. "Here, come on. Up you go."

"Stop," Rey muttered. It was more of a struggle to push him off than she'd expected. "Stop it, I'm fine!"

He let go immediately, as if he were afraid of hurting her even further.

They were on the floor of Maz's parlor. Chairs and tables were strewn everywhere, as if a hurricane had passed through, and shards of glass were littered around them like a fresh snowfall. Some shards, like the ones pricking into Rey's arms, were small and easily brushed off. Other hunks larger than her face lay across the floor, dangerously close to where she could have fallen, if not for Ben.

She heard shouting and screaming coming from the back. Beneath it, coating the whole scene, was the razor thin stench of copper.

Ben backed away, giving her space. He looked as well as she felt, and she couldn't imagine what kind of pain he must have been in. He'd taken the brunt of the hit from the glass while shielding her. How was he not dead?

Her head pounded, but not in the way she'd expected after being on the wrong end of a glass shower. It was the relieving kind of pain that reminded her of the value of fresh air and a properly working human body.

Rey swallowed, hiccuped, and then carefully patted her accessible vital areas. Then, once she ascertained there weren't any fist-sized pieces of glass stuck in her body, she slowly,  _slowly_ , forced herself to get up.

She heard Ben grunt, and something heavy hit the floor out of sight. Maz and two of her workers shuffled out of the back, each looking dazed. One of them was sniffling.

"Is everyone okay?" Her mouth felt funny, but she needed to talk, to do something; otherwise she was going to fall into that panicky animal terror just lurking beyond her perception.

Maz and the others mumbled words of agreement. One of them was staring at Ben in wonder, but Ben didn't pay him any mind.

He was too busy staring out the window, expression twisted in concentration, as if it was a fight just to stand there. There was blood all over him and his shirt was ruined, and Rey found herself wishing she could take back the last ten minutes.

Far-off in the distance, she heard the sound of the city's first responders. How long had it been? Her sense of time was missing, probably buried amongst the literal tonnage of glass that'd nearly killed her.

Her hands were shaking.

"We need to move. We can't stay here. Whatever that was..." she swallowed, and repeated, "We can't stay here."

Ben hissed in sudden pain, gripping his ears. The ground shook, and a pressure much like the first funneled in from outside, shaking the surrounding walls. Rey felt the tremor travel from the ground up her body, clattering her teeth together, and searching for release.

One of Maz's workers cried out, flattening himself against a section of the floor.

"You guys need to get out of here," Rey yelled. Once the shaking died down, she stood, wincing as new aches and pains made themselves known. "Check the back exit. The streets are probably a mess."

Everyone stared at her.

"What are you waiting for, an invitation? Move!"

Maz jerked her head as if slapped, but she nodded. She wrangled her employees into following her, leaving Rey alone with Ben.

When he realized she wasn't going with them, Ben narrowed his eyes. "Aren't you going, too?"

Rey swallowed, forcing herself to remain objective.

"I need to go help."

" _What?"_ Ben looked horrified. "Are you insane?"

"Maybe, but somebody's got to."

The building shook. As if the earth itself ripped open and belted a roar from its gaping maw, the low buzzsaw of stone grinding on stone reached a sudden crescendo from outside. The sound crashed through the store, carrying the faint echoes of people screaming.

Before she could ask what the sound was, Ben groaned and wobbled in place. His knees buckled, and he started to collapse, clutching at his head with both hands.

She scrambled to help him before he fell entirely on the glass covered floor - the last thing they needed was him shredding his back.

He looked pale, and he was trembling, and he'd developed a cold sweat.

"We need to-" Ben moaned. "Everyone's afraid. S-so much...  _fear."_

He gasped the last word, and it was only sheer nerve that kept Rey from clutching him and falling to pieces herself. His symptoms... a concussion?

Regardless, he was heavy. Rey helped him stagger over to the far side of the entrance, against the wall where there was barely any glass strewn about. He slumped against the surface, letting her take a second stock of his injuries.

"I'm sorry." She gritted her teeth as she helped him sit up straight. "I'm sorry for calling you an insufferable asshole. I'm sorry you got hurt helping me."

He was wincing and clutching at his head as though he was dying on the inside. Tears bit at her eyes but she suppressed that part of her violently.

Rey cupped his face, but he batted her hands away weakly.

"I'm not hurt, Rey." His eyes fluttered, and he mumbled, "Why... why aren't you afraid?"

Part of her brain was working on overdrive, waving and flashing a big neon sign.  _Danger! Danger!_  She ignored that part of her - she already knew she was terrified out of her mind, but that didn't change what needed to be done.

"Of course I'm afraid, Ben," she said softly, as if the low volume would spare him any more pain. "But that's not going to stop me." She smiled with morbid amusement. "Not when people need help. Not when  _you_ need help."

"Help?" Ben looked up at her blearily. "But... why?"

"Hey!"

Rey looked to see several EMTs crawling into the restaurant, one of them pushing the now useless door aside while the others followed behind.

"Hey, are you two okay!?"

"He's injured," Rey called back.

She stood from where she'd been kneeling and let the paramedics come closer to get a look at Ben.

"He tackled me out of the way of the glass, so I'd check his back for cuts. He might have a concussion, too. He's been slurring his words, and he's having a hard time focusing on me."

She let the lead tech look her over while two paramedics checked on Ben. Without the pressing responsibility of keeping her coworker safe, her thoughts were drifting dangerously close to something best left for the stupid or the brave.

"Rey?" he called out. He sounded worried.

As if he could tell what she was thinking.

The man checking her over dismissed her with instructions to go straight to the closest hospital. He looked like he'd rather take her there himself, but Rey could understand the judgment call. If she could walk and talk, she could get herself to safety.

She left Maz's after double-checking on Ben and she received assurance that he was going to be okay. He seemed to be struggling to say something, and her heart tightened in sympathy. She resolved to buy him a coffee once this was over. He was an ass, but he didn't deserve  _this_.

There were countless people in the streets, some standing about looking confused, and others crying and shouting. Rey was relieved to notice that she was one of the ones who looked worse off, with two bloody scrapes along her arms, where she'd landed after Ben tackled her. The restaurant hadn't been the only place to have its windows shatter, but from the crowd of panicked, ashen faces moving north, most had gotten off with light injuries.

Rey debated heading to the hospital. Briefly.

Then she looked south.

* * *

The EMTs weren't sure what to do with Ben once Rey left.

Physically, he was fine, but they didn't know why he was in so much pain. They were thinking he had a concussion and all Ben could think in between the pounding moments of hell was that this would be so much easier if he and Poe just ordered in like he'd suggested.

But no, Poe had to get authentic hand-tossed pizza as fast as possible and what good was a roommate with super speed if he wouldn't grab you a fresh-from-the-oven pie once in a while?

Ben tried to lift his head, to fight against the metaphorical weight pressing down on his chest, but he could barely focus his thoughts into words with the cacophony of emotions battering against his senses. The sick, sour tang of terror pulsed like an infected needle leading from the outside into his brain.

Words formed and died on his lips as the living, writhing ocean of Hosnia's people bent and twisted around him. Rapidfire instances of anger, worry, anxiety, and confusion shot into Ben's awareness, but they were just the spice - the garnish on the fear that grabbed at the brain stem and said  _You will die_.

Something was wrong in Hosnia and Ben felt every pulse of it in the city's heartbeat.

He needed to focus. He needed to focus on something, to center on something to slide his mental shields back into place.

A set of words he'd never forget floated up from the eddies of his mind, providing the answer.

" _A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…"_

Ben burned those words into his brain and pushed every intruding emotion that wasn't his out. It took effort, far more effort than he'd ever needed before, but he managed.

He leaned against the wall, gasping and relishing in his own emotions being  _his_  again.

The deep-sea pressure of something pushing on his empathic senses was still there along with the usual psychic aftertaste. It was an improvement - at least the people of Hosnia's emotions were only slamming a siege-breaking ram into his defenses instead of burning him out from the inside.

Ben let the focus words sink back down into memory. Just repeating them brought thoughts best left alone back to the surface, and Ben didn't need to be spending precious time contemplating his own trauma. He needed to get out of there.

Gritting his teeth and fighting every single one of his nerve-endings telling him to lay prone or stay still, Ben hefted himself up. It startled the EMTs who'd been standing above him, talking into their shoulder radios, asking for a stretcher to move him.

"Sir, you need to sit down." One paramedic, a short red-haired woman, tried helping him to a lone standing chair, and Ben let her. She flashed a light into his eyes, searching for signs of injury she wouldn't find. "You might have a concussion. We need to make sure you're safe to move."

Ben had never had so much as a paper cut since he was fourteen. It was one of the few things his heritage had seen fit to grant him after the accident, ironic as it was.

Two people in the store.

Three who'd seen his face.

Ben had escaped from more without getting caught, but he'd never rid himself of that dread he had whenever people came within a country mile of finding out the truth about him.

One thing was clear - he needed to leave.

He pushed off the chair to his feet. His shirt and pants were ruined from the storefront exploding into a million pieces, but Ben stood to his full height, glowering down at the woman who was just doing her job, and he went with an old classic.

Eyes widening, mouth dropping in faux shock, he gasped and pointed to a random spot on the wall.

"Hey, what's that?!"

In the split second everyone's attention was off him, he  _ran_.

The world stretched down to a blur as he moved faster than any human alive, blasting through the counter separating the main area from the kitchen, tearing it off its hinge with his passing. He zoomed through the ruined kitchen, sending pots and pans and other paraphernalia flying. The door out into the alleyway behind  _Maz's_ shattered into splinters as Ben accidentally checked his shoulder against it in a turn so fast and sharp the rubber soles of his shoes warmed.

Skidding for half a millisecond, Ben ran down one end of the alley and then decelerated fast enough to give a normal person whiplash. He emerged walking nonchalantly and spared a look back to check if the paramedics had caught up. The woman who'd been examining him ran out the exit he'd taken, looking frazzled, before he turned the corner at a normal pace and blended in with the crowd.

A hiss and a  _thwump_  went off in the distance, and his ears popped as a sound like pressurized air suddenly released.

He heard the boom before everyone else. The noise arrived, same as before - a low near subsonic thrum that made passersby turn queasy with nausea and paralyzed with fear. The sour rot of fear ebbed and flowed with the noise, spiking and pressing against his head like a clamp.

Ben's vision went double for a moment before he recomposed himself.

Still standing. That was a plus.

He sucked in air and tried to think of something,  _anything_  other than the imminent danger. Humanity's volatile mental state pressed close all around him, and he felt himself acclimate to it, but that didn't mean he wanted to  _stay_.

Not wanting to stir up the crowd, he turned down another alley. If he used his powers, they'd create another blast of wind and sound, and people were already shaken up. His mental shields were paper thin with all the panic in the air.

Halfway down the alley, a crash of glass emotions hammered against his head. Ben staggered and clung against the barred window to stop himself from collapsing.

Someone was screaming. Far. They were very far.

"Help!"

The word was faint - so faint anyone else would think they'd imagined it. He muttered to himself, trying to drive the voice and the words they said far away, back to fiction.

"Please! Help! Oh- oh god. I don't think he's breathing! Someone!"

Coughing. Ben smelled smoke in the air.

"Please! He's trapped! I-I can't move him!"

He closed his eyes and fell to his knees.

It hurt so badly.

His mental shields frayed dangerously close to nothing, and his teeth could have ground stone with how hard he was clenching. Tears burned at his eyes.

"Go away," he gasped. He scrunched his eyes closed and repeated the words, like a mantra. "Go away go away go away! I didn't want this. Please-"

"Please!" The voice cut over. "It's my dad! Please, someone!" Sobbing. The voice of a child, begging the world for help. "Please! Someone help us!"

With fewer than a dozen words, he was back in a car, moments before his world came to a screeching halt. Blurred trees filled his vision, and all he felt was the warm, safe hand of-

"Dad!" The kid sounded desperate.

Unbidden, another memory kicked the old nightmare out of the spotlight and took its place.

An older voice, gruff, but kind. A little kooky, maybe. His was a voice that had seen things no one else had, and who'd shared his gift with a child too innocent to realize the silliness of the stories.

"- _and the Knights! Oh boy, Ben, the Knights, they looked at that big ol' sack of lard Jabba, and they knew he was slimy - no-good scum. They saw the way he'd conquered his planet of nothing and tried to turn it into even more nothing. But you know what Kylo Ren remembered?"_

_His dad ruffled Ben's head and Ben grumbled and tried to wrestle away from his old man, but he was too strong, no matter how Ben had never lost a pushing contest with other kids at school._

Back in the world of chaos and fear, something like electricity buzzed within his chest.

" _What?" young Ben said_   _eagerly_ _. He already knew the answer. That was part of the appeal, but no matter how the story_ _was told_   _it was always new when told by his father._

The sound of the city, and of a world on fire, faded.

" _That all you need to light the fire - to make things_ right...  _is a single spark." Han pressed a single finger against Ben's chest. "And that spark is right here, kid."_

Slowly, so slowly it was almost painful, the roiling ocean of terror and confusion melded into the background.

And a single voice cried out, desperate for a miracle.

"Someone,  _help!_ "

Ben opened his eyes and  _ran_.

The world stretched and turned into a blur. His eyes tracked everything - every person, every rock, every crack in his way, and power he'd always kept in check thrived at its release.

Wind and pressure chased him like world was trying to catch up. He kept to the sidelines as much as possible, avoiding people, but the vacuum pressure blew others along his path with almost damaging force. One person banged against a nearby car's hood from the ensuing wind stream behind him.

Tall buildings and skyscrapers gave way to older, stouter buildings as he approached the point of impact, with fewer and fewer people along the way. One building's windows shattered into a deluge of glass along the sidewalk as he passed by, and Ben dropped his speed down a notch, hearing the damage now long behind him.

The crash and blast of a sonic boom announced his arrival at the park.

It looked like a blast zone.

The park had once been a multi-block investment from environmental groups and the city, full of trees, benches, a gazebo and even two ponds for the kids to watch ducks and geese gather around. Now it was unrecognizable.

Trees had been blown over, ripped up to the roots, and some had been flung back. One unlucky car now had an old cherry blossom tree buried in its engine, with another pinning it down the middle. Stores and buildings along the outside of the park looked like a bomb had gone off in front of them.

At the center of the park was a massive crater that covered almost a third of the area. It was perfectly centered, with a smoking, burning shape covered in soot and ash.

The thing - whatever it was - was making a grinding, crackling noise, like the thunderclap following a bolt of lightning and just being near it put Ben on edge. It was like a power drill had been shoved inside of his mouth and turned to the setting  _Scramble_.

He gawked at the crater before he heard the child cry out again. Their voice was fainter, and he was coughing, crying.

Ben scanned the park and saw no one. The other buildings were still emptying of stragglers, and at the top of one of those buildings he saw a column of black smoke wisping upwards, mingling with all the other dust and ash in the air.

"Help…"

He checked if anyone was too close, bent low and leapt  _up_  in the air like he'd been doing it all his life. The pavement cracked with the immense force of his jump, and smaller impact circles appeared where he'd pushed off. The jump must have damaged a water line, because a fire hydrant nearby burst up. It collided with Ben midway, the metal slamming into his gut dead-on like a targeted missile, and though it earned a surprise grunt from him, he corrected his jump path and catch it before it fell on anyone down below.

Landing on the burning building, Ben dropped the metal canister like it was a bulky pillow and winced as the roof, already weakened from damage and the fire, caved in.

The fire hydrant sank down, crashing through shoddy floors.

"Hello?" Ben heard the kid gasp and choke on the smoke. "Is-Is anyone there?"

He dropped down the hole in the roof, not bothering to raise his hand against the fire. Extreme temperatures of a normal fire had never affected him before. Flames licked at his heels and he felt the strange tickling sensation of something hot trying to burn what it couldn't touch.

Ben flashed through the apartment in a blink, but that only made the flames worse. They spread like hellfire, consuming rugs, walls, and furniture as he checked every room.

"Come on," he muttered, grasping for the faint thread of urgency - of panic and despair that was radiating from somewhere in this building. "Come on come on come on! Where are you, kid?"

He checked two more apartments after that, and it was only when he backhanded a falling beam, splitting it in two and sending it down the stairwell in a crash and explosion worthy of a Michael Bay movie, that he finally,  _finally_  heard them.

Two heartbeats.

One young, broadcasting muddled and confused emotions. A sense of helplessness, and something Ben couldn't quite put a pin on. A light, of some sort.

The other heartbeat was muffled and slowing. He felt only a vague shade of protectiveness from them, but that was fading.

Ben focused on those emotions - they rang clearer than any of his other senses did at the moment, and he let them guide him to the last apartment on the floor.

"Wh-Who's there?" the child asked, when Ben tried pushing open the door and found it blocked.

Pushing through the door would be easy, but the entire building's structure was questionable. The smoke was dense as a forest canopy, and every step he took made ominous creaking noises. The ceiling was already bowing, strained to the point beyond recovery.

"I'm here to help!" he shouted through the door. "Is there anyone with you? Where are you?"

"It's my dad," the kid cried out, amid coughing and retching. He'd inhaled too much smoke already. "He's trapped! Please- you-"

"Step back from the door!"

Ben took a few steps back himself without waiting for confirmation from the kid.

Despite his immunity to the fire, the heat was making him work up a sweat, and he felt the slow, burning trickle of his own scalp as it burned at an agonizingly slow pace.

He crashed through the door like it was styrofoam, the wood giving him paper-thin resistance. Not pausing to see what other damage he'd done to the building, he sped through the apartment, coming to find a pair of people in the living room.

One was a child, draping himself over an adult who had an ugly gash on the back of his head. The man was laying down passed out.

Images and sounds, memories, threatened to overtake him, but whether it was sheer stubbornness or the simple fact that he was right there and someone  _needed_  him, Ben bit back those nightmares with a curse and rushed to the pair.

"I'm here," Ben said, turning the kid over. Round face, stained dark from the smoke and the burning building. Young. Too young. "Don't worry, kid. I'm here."

Simple words. Easy words.

"Who- who are you?" the kid whispered out weakly.

He scanned them for any other wounds, found none, and pushed them off the adult and did the same. Outside, in the hallway, the beams and the crackle-boom of wood splintering signaled the end of this floor's lifespan.

Ben grabbed the adult, a man with sandy blond hair and a weathered face, and hefted him over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. Then, he grabbed the kid around the middle and faced the south wall.

"Mister?" The kid looked loopy, dazed. "Who are you?"

Ben didn't have to answer him. He  _didn't_.

But some part of him did.

"Call me…" he hesitated. "Call me Kylo Ren."

And there, in a burning building, with a headache the size of Mount Rushmore, Ben Solo felt the first and greatest sense of  _rightness_  that he'd had in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on Twitter!
> 
> [ Attack's Twitter](https://twitter.com/AttackotDC)  
> [ Onfire's Twitter](https://twitter.com/thebuildingsno1)


	4. No Hero

With a running jump, he smashed knee-first through the apartment's outer wall and leapt out over the city, holding the two people he'd saved.

They soared over the park, fresh air hitting him like a shotgun blast to the face, and something in him - something stupid, and joyous and  _alive_  - whooped in joy at the sight of the stars and the night sky so close and the Earth so far. For the briefest of moments as he reached the apex of his jump, Ben believed that everything would turn out all right.

At least, he thought that until the man over his shoulders woke up mid air, looked down at the approaching street lights, and screamed bloody murder.

Wind rushing past them, Ben took a breath as they neared the ground at lethal speeds. Right as they were about to crash, he pushed all the air out in a single burst against the pavement. The burst was so strong he and his passengers were pushed up, away from the ground.

Gravity hooked them again, and they all landed with a ground-shaking  _thud_. Ben sprawled, losing his balance, and accidentally dropped the father. The man's screaming switched to the rough cough of a man who'd had all air driven from his lungs.

They'd landed in a crowd. One person he'd blown back with his sudden landing lifted a trembling finger. "Did that guy freaking  _double jump_?"

Ignoring him, Ben laid the kid in his arms down gently. The boy flipped onto his knees and hacked with weak wheezy breaths. Someone right outside the edge of Ben's vision grabbed him and cleared a space around them.

"Give him some space! Give him space!" she ordered. "Hey! Hey you! How far away are the paramedics?"

Ben didn't catch the answer. He was too busy coming to terms with what he'd just done, though something about the voice pinged familiarly against his senses.

Before he could turn and see who it was, his vision went dark as someone covered him with a fire blanket. He took a second to realize why when he noticed the singeing smell of his own burnt hair.

"Oh for the love of- give  _him_  some space, too!"

The hands patting him down for nonexistent burns and fires backed off, giving him precious few seconds of peace to consider the ramifications of what happened, and for the dam of emotions around him to sneak through his shields again. Without the pressing demand of the child's desperate call for help, Ben was suddenly and acutely aware of everyone around him.

The spicy zest of shock and awe was chief among them, though the familiar rank and needle of fear remained. It crept up and around his mental shields, and Ben shuddered trying to steel himself. The buzzing warmth in his chest was gone, leaving a cold empty spot reminiscent of heartache.

Ben shook his head and resolved to figure it out later. His powers had always been a mystery. Right now he had to focus on getting away. His face (whatever part of it was visible) was sure to be plastered all over the evening news and he needed to grab his stuff and-

"Everyone get down!"

He almost scoffed. It had been fifteen years since he'd felt physical pain. The odds that he needed to duck were slim to-

Something small and metallic zipped through the crowd and hit him in the chest. It threw him high up and backward, smashing him into a nearby building and through two walls, before he finally came to rest against a third.

He stayed there, shocked and blinking amidst the wreckage of what used to be someone's bathroom, his head getting splashed with the leaky remains of destroyed sink. There was screaming outside, punctuated with the revolting sensation of terror clanging against his mind.

His mouth tasted funny. Ben worked his jaw carefully and found he'd bit his tongue. Not hard, but enough to sting. The alien feeling in his chest throbbed. Pain. This was pain.

Ben hadn't felt pain in years.

A young woman poked her head in from the new, man-sized hole in the wall. She stood there, pale and trembling, gaping at him from the living room he'd destroyed.

Wincing, Ben trailed plaster and broken tile behind him, and cleared his head of any debris. The apartment tenant followed behind him, still awestruck by the person-shaped missile that had just smashed through her apartment.

"Excuse me, ma'am." Ben took stock of his ruined shirt. One sleeve caught on a piece of rebar as he stepped out, tearing when he tugged on it. He noticed she was blankly holding a laundry basket. "Uh, do you have a shirt I could borrow?"

She mutely handed him a dark hoodie that was a little tight around the shoulders. As he put it on, he heard her say something about calling the super and then flee out the doorway.

Sighing, Ben realized he'd probably just tripled her insurance rates. He turned an entire three seater couch back upright and out of the way and looked out the hole he'd come in from.

It was a pity he didn't have night vision, but the street lights shined enough to show the crowd hurrying away from the park, helping the people he'd rescued. There was a new dust cloud, and Ben could make out the whirring and sizzling of a machine coming from the direction he'd gotten hit from.

One person from the crowd remained, and his heart damn near stopped when he saw her.

She stood there, glaring and ready to fight, for all the good it would do. Her hair was a mess, and there was soot on her face, but Ben recognized the thud of her heartbeat and the wildfire thunder of her emotions kept under careful control.

Righteous anger. Concern. Fear.

A visceral thing that ripped through her, telling her to run, to get away.

What was Rey still doing there?

Shapes emerged from the dust cloud. They didn't walk or make any noise as they moved closer. Instead, the air parted as three metallic looking objects suspended in midair approached, floating on nothing, with a series of horror movie-looking implementations and artificial tentacles dangling from a circular main body. A single camera-like knob twisted around, scanning the vicinity.

Something about them seemed familiar. It nagged at Ben, as if he'd seen them before or heard about them secondhand.

"Who are you?" Rey called out. She was shaking. He heard the quaver in her voice.

Every instinct twanging in his body longed to grab her and run, but he hesitated. He didn't know what these things were capable of. Any mistake, any sudden grab and dash could just mean she'd die of whiplash instead of... whatever they were going to do.

The jellyfish robots - for lack of a better term - split apart. Two glided forward and flanked Rey on both sides, while the third moved closer to her front.

Ben tensed, seeing them surround her. She was trapped.

Judging by the sharp flare in her emotions, she realized it, too.

One robot emitted a quick light, covering Rey. For a second nothing but alien beeps and noises were exchanged between the...  _droids?_

That word seemed to fit better.

The droid with the light finished whatever it was doing and its signal lights flared through a kaleidoscope of colors, before settling on a strange aquamarine.

"Why are you doing this?" Rey demanded. He didn't have to be an empath to tell that all her bravado was faker than his own destroyed glasses. "Who sent you?"

They moved in closer, penning her in like a wild animal.

Ben waited for the next sudden spike in fear from her, but it never came. Instead, a faint sense of resignation and fury was taking over.

Grinding, clicking noises from the droids and Rey's own thunderous heartbeat roared in Ben's ears louder than the klaxons and fire alarms circling around the city. Emergency services were on their way, but they were probably being held up by the throngs of people trying to flee.

" _Who sent you?_ "

And then, to both Ben and Rey's surprise, the droids answered. All three spoke in unison with the shudder and stilted tone of an electronically generated voice.

"Classification: Homo Sapiens. Status: Light lacerations along limb extremities. Fatigue. Exhibiting typical stress symptoms of locally defined  _homo sapiens_. Heart rate elevated-"

Rey, in all her fury, interrupted. "What do you want?"

The droids paused, mid-triage. They hung there, eerily still, dust and dirt clinging to their various appendages, before their previous aquamarine light faded into an ominous-looking crimson.

"Conclusion." One of the prehensile appendages rose. There was a serrated circular saw at the end. "Candidacy percentage: Zero."

The saw lashed out, aiming for her. It would have cut straight through her chest if she hadn't ducked at the last second. The blade flew by, missing her by a millimeter, and it doubled back quick as a bullet, ready to finish the job.

At least it would've, if Ben hadn't crashed into the droid it was attached to like a furious, smiting deity. He reached back and punched down at the metallic monster, pile driving it into the ground and ripping up pavement in a violent rippling motion. The action ripped some of its limbs off and turned its upper plating instantly concave as it suddenly found itself two feet underground.

The tentacle-saw whirred and died, flopping to the ground.

Ben breathed a sigh of relief and almost allowed himself to relax.

From either side, he heard the mechanical sounds of droids preparing deadly weapons to avenge their fallen… friend? Did droids have friends?

He rolled his eyes at himself, then scooped Rey up from where she'd stumbled over, and cradled her head against his chest. She didn't even have time to argue before he leapt away, dodging a conflux of weapons aimed at them.

They landed not too far away - somewhere near the initial blast zone. The dust cloud from the droids' appearance gave them some cover, but Ben doubted it would for long.

He steadied Rey as he lowered her to her feet. She was pushing against him, wild and confused at what had happened.

She stopped entirely once she looked up at him.

* * *

Rey hadn't expected robots when she'd left  _Maz's_.

She also hadn't expected to see someone punted three stories up and away like a human football, now had she expected said human football to save her right when she was about to become shish ke-Rey via the previously mentioned robots.

So she gave herself some leeway when the first thing she said to the mysterious stranger who saved her was, "Fancy meeting you here."

...  _fancy meeting you here?_

Rey cringed, but the stranger nodded, swallowed thickly and said, "Uh. Sure. Fancy. Uh huh."

He sounded familiar, but his voice came out scratchy and rough. So much soot and dust was smeared over his face, she was surprised he wasn't coughing up a storm like that kid he'd saved. Pieces of glass, ceramic, and other masonry fell from him, while his pants looked like they'd seen the wrong end of a flamethrower. He'd somehow gained a hoodie, with the hood drawn up, shadowing his already indistinguishable features in the dusty half light of the park.

She looked him over, mindful of the killer robots still within the vicinity. He'd moved at a terrifying speed, and it boggled her mind to see him standing there, unharmed.

"You're not dead. How are you not dead?"

The stranger shrugged. "Guess they didn't hit me hard enough."

"I saw you get thrown into a building _._  People don't just get up from that."

"People don't, but I do."

Was that smug satisfaction creeping through his tone?

It was like a switch flipped, and his tone became harsher. Irritated. "Speaking of almost dying, what were you  _thinking?_  Why were you just standing around back there?"

Rey's cheeks flushed. Maybe that hadn't been her best plan.

"Someone had to buy time so those people you run!"

"That's my point! You should have run- oh nevermind, come on!"

Next thing Rey knew, she was being scooped up into his arms.

...very  _strong_  arms.

Fortunately, she didn't scream as they flew up into the air, but that was because she was processing the literal  _dozens of black robot tentacles_ piercing, smashing, and slicing through the space where they'd been standing. Angry buzzing noises followed, and she saw a thin, clear beam slice through a still standing trunk like it was a wet paper towel.

When they landed on a nearby rooftop, Rey ran to the edge and looked out at where they'd just come from. The top half of the tree laid on its side, bisected round the middle, branches crushed underneath.

"Robots and death lasers. I'm dealing with robots and death lasers. Awesome. Just... awesome."

The stranger stepped up beside her. "What do you think they want?"

"Hell if I know." She shook her head, catching sight of the robots floating out of the dust cloud. Their obsidian tentacles trailed behind them. "Do we even know what they are?"

"Rey the closest thing I've ever seen to one of  _those_  is a Dalek, and those have plungers instead of literal death tentacles!"

She looked at him sharply. "How d'you know my name?"

The guy stilled, and said, in a blasé voice, "I don't know your name."

"You called me Rey."

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I-I said 'Hey'. Not 'Rey'."

Well, lying clearly wasn't in his superhero repertoire.

"How do you know me?" she demanded. She jabbed a finger into his chest. "Who are you? Where are you from?"

"I'm no one. From nowhere," he gulped. "Look, we need to focu-  _shit_!"

Without giving her any warning, he swept her up again and crushed her to his chest.

"Hey! C'mon, you can't just keep picking me up!"

"Cover your ears," the stranger ordered, as they suddenly ascended over nearby buildings like a rocket. Wind whipped and threw her untied hair around, and Rey's heart leapt up into her throat.

Cramped and tightly held, she couldn't get a good look at his face, but she wriggled enough to move her arms and cover her ears. She felt more than saw her mysterious hero inhale and let out another burst of pressurized air down at the ground, this time in succession. Their descent slowed in jerks, bouncing her with each pulse, like a carnival ride.

They landed in a new spot, kicking up a dust cloud the size of an apartment building. She coughed as he set her on the ground, even as she had to bite the inside of her cheek to control the trembling threatening to overtake her.

"Thanks," she murmured, once the ringing in her ears had subsided.

The stranger rolled his shoulders. "Don't mention it."

"You're not off the hook! How do you know me?"

She thought she heard him mutter something under his breath before he looked away. "What is this, an interview?"

"Right! Hold on a sec." She grabbed her phone, impressed that it was still intact, and with a quick tap of a button she logged in to her social media streaming channel, and started recording. " _Now_  it's an interview."

Even behind the plaster and the masonry coating his face, Rey could make out the pained expression. "Really? We're doing this  _now?"_

She kept her phone's camera on him, smiling cheekily. "Hi, my name is Rey Johnson with the  _Prime Gazette_  and right now we're live downtown with- sorry what did you see your name was again?"

"I didn't."

Grinding gear-like noises interrupted her impromptu interview.

Her mysterious savior tensed, and Rey prepared to anchor herself to the ground before he tried to take her on another trip through the air, but nothing happened.

... and then all three robots emerged from the billowing smoke around them, sliding along the air like silent ghosts. One of them had the top half of its spherical body caved in, but it seemed just as functional as its brethren.

Two of them broke off, flanking Rey and her companion, but their instruments of death seemed to have retracted into their bodies.

"Why aren't the robots attacking?" she hissed, as they turned backs to each other, keeping a wary eye on their new robotic friends.

"Droids."

" _What?"_

"They're called droids. Not robots. They mean the same thing but just...call them droids. I've heard they can get tetchy about terminology."

She had so many questions about that one statement, but Rey nodded and kept her mouth shut.

The droids' lights transitioned back to the aquamarine color - the color they'd been before they'd tried skewering her. The same warm light appeared, scanning them up and down on all three sides.

She'd have one hell of a story to write later, assuming she got out of this alive.

The robot with the inverted cap burred. Its voice came out distorted, but audible. "Scan complete. Anomalous classification: Non-human DNA detected. Beginning extrapolative deduction."

The stranger beside her straightened, and stepped forward, glaring at the closest of the droids - the one he'd put his fist through. Each of the droids' eyes swiveled, shifting to his position.

"Classification: Correllian."

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" he demanded.

"Status: Light laceration along oral soft tissue. No physical damage to outer epidermal. Internal scan reveals elevated hormone and stress exhibitors. Entity exhibits typical symptoms associated with extreme psycho-empathic species. Lingering energy signature scan proceeding." The lights switched to the deathly red from before. "Mantle energy signature detected. Calculating candidacy percentage..."

The man stepped back, closer to Rey.

"Brace yourself," he whispered.

One droid let out a small ding. "Scan complete. Candidacy percentage: Ninety two point eight-six-seven percent confidence. Engaging peaceful negotiation protocol."

The droids' tentacles all raised and left their central bodies, slithering and poising like vipers readying to strike. She saw several buzz saws, knives, and drills appear, along with a pair of pincers that sparked brighter than a power plant with enough electricity to make Rey sick just being in its presence.

"Identification required. Corellian," the lead droid said, addressing her companion. "State your name for peaceful negotiations."

In what world did presenting various weapons and tools capable of slicing through soft flesh count as 'peaceful'?

Her companion inhaled. Exhaled.

Then he announced to the patient tempest around them, "... Kylo Ren."

If Rey didn't know any better, she'd have said the name stunned the droids into silence. Their tentacles drooped. The whirring of a wetsaw stuttered, and she had a feeling she was missing on some major context in whatever bomb he'd dropped.

The tentacles arched back, internal mechanisms revving up to painful high-pitched levels. Before she could react, they pierced the air, heading straight for Kylo Ren -  _through her._

A bullet of pressurized air blasted apart the incoming tentacles from the droid in front, creating the briefest of openings in their formation. Ears ringing, Rey could barely process the change before Kylo Ren was behind her, hand bracing her neck.

He yelled something along the lines  _Hold on_  before the world blurred down to something unrecognizable.

And then it stopped.

Rey shook, barely able to comprehend what had happened. Everything seemed still compared to the merest microsecond when everything had seemed impossibly fast.

_Super-speed._

She'd never considered how terrifying it was as a concept. Her entire body felt loose and rubbery, like she'd been put through a high-powered drying cycle at a laundromat, and her face stung. A quick hand to her cheek told her she'd sustained several minor cuts from the brief run.

Not to mention the ridiculous amount of aching in her joints.

Kylo Ren stepped back and looked her over.

Now that she had a name for him it was easier to see him as what he was.  _Superhuman._ And maybe (she remembered that strange diagnosis from earlier) not even human at all.

"Sorry," he said, at last. "I know most people aren't used to that."

Rey almost pointed out that most people weren't equipped to handle being in the presence of a superhuman showdown at all, but she held back. He looked so earnest, it was hard to grasp that he'd nearly killed her via whiplash.

What terrified her was the feeling she had that if they'd gone even a fraction faster, she wouldn't be alive.

Rebooting, her brain caught up with her mouth and she said, "Don't you think you should go fight those things?"

"As soon as you're safe," he said automatically. He had the decency to add, sheepishly, "I uh, I'm not great at holding back."

_Gee, you think?_ Rey's mind supplied snippily. She'd have to stop by the hospital for real after this to make sure she hadn't sustained any permanent damage. Her ears were still ringing.

"I'll try to get them to clear the area." She gestured to the gathering at the edges of the side streets that fed into the park block. Her shoulder loudly protested the motion. "Give you room to do your work."

Kylo Ren rolled his neck. Some dust had cleared from his face - blown off in the super-speed run - and she could make out some of his features. With the hoodie low, shadowing over his face, she could only see a glimpse of a soft mouth and prominent nose.

"I won't need long."

"Good," she said, meeting his bravado with her own. Her mouth was running faster than her own brain again. "Because you owe me an interview."

He seemed amused. "You'd have to catch me first."

"We'll see about that, Mister Hero." She looked past him to the gathering of droids, their arms untangling from each other. "Or, should I call you Kylo Ren?"

He stiffened. It was small, but he was all Rey could focus on, with the world still spinning off-kilter.

"Neither," he said. His voice was rough and pained. "That was just…. forget that name."

Rey almost laughed. "Sorry  _Kylo_ , but a person doesn't forget their first." She blushed at her own words and clarified hastily, "First run-in with a Superhero, that is. At least... I assume. I guess most people don't even-"

Oh, she was babbling. Well, it was bound to happen eventually, given the circumstances.

"-get to  _meet_  Superheroes, nevermind-"

Before she had the chance to blab on like a schoolgirl with a crush, he silenced her with an angry demand.

"Stop calling me that."

Rey stopped. "I- but- isn't that your name? What else am I supposed to call you?" With an awkward laugh, she offered, " _The Flash_  is already taken, but I'm sure we could come up with something. Every superhero's got to-"

"Stop.  _Please_."

"-have a cool hero name," she continued. Then she paused when an exciting thought came to her. "Oh my  _God_ , is this your origin story? This is amazing," she gushed, aware that she was not only in a state of panic but  _also_  geeking out and... maybe fangirling. "Amazing - I can't believe I'm going to beat Solo to getting the scoop on the first real superhero. He's going to be-"

"Just  _stop!_ Stop calling me a hero!" he yelled. "I'm  _not_  a hero! Super or otherwise, okay? This isn't an origin story, you're not getting  _the scoop_ , I'm  _never_  going to do this again, and- and-"

Before she could process his reaction, he scoffed, shook his head, turned his back on her, and leapt back into the fray.

Rey stood there, shocked in the middle of a world on fire.

* * *

Poe was struggling to keep the smirk off his face.

The scene on the TV in front of him was jerky, with the live feed and the camera man struggling to keep everyone of interest in focus. On one knee he'd opened his tablet to Rey's livestream, enjoying the alternate viewpoint. The other balanced a bowl of fresh popcorn.

" _-seems like a single man, Jim. Eyewitnesses have said that this man - going by the alias of Kylo Ren - has been pushing back against what look to be robots! He's-"_

Commentary cut off as the camera man jerked his camera up, following a flaming form as it leapt high in the sky and did a  _bicycle kick_ of all things, smashing an incoming robot lit up in crimson lines up straight up into the stratosphere. Sound cut out for a moment as Poe watched his roommate casually break the sound barrier, obliterating the second robot of the original three.

Ben had torn apart the first piece by piece and thrown toward the ocean. Poe wouldn't have been surprised if it was still airborne.

" _What just happened?"_ The camera panned down back onto the reporter, whose red hair was thrown askew from the normalizing air pressure around them.

He'd known this would happen someday, but saying  _I told you so_  wouldn't stop the almost guaranteed freak-out that his best friend was probably having.

It would have been easier to do the  _hero_  thing on his own terms, and Poe had been saying it since that day in college, when he'd watched the guy who lived across the hall from him in the freshman dorms lift his car in the empty backlot of a movie theater to change his tire. It seemed he either hadn't had a jack or had been so convinced nobody would see him that he'd thought it was worth the risk.

Poe had seen, though.

Seen and then dropped his cherry slushie, which Ben had replaced while begging Poe not to tell anyone and make him the next news headline.

Poe'd had no intention of spilling the beans, but he still let Ben buy him a new slushie, and he'd demanded to hear the truth. The  _whole_ truth, and now he was the only person other than Ben's mom who knew. She was an absolute delight, even if she'd scared Poe to within an inch of his life while holding a pair of pink oven mitts when they'd first met.

Leia took protecting her son's secret very seriously.

So he'd known this would happen. Maybe not in a clairvoyant, bet-your-entire-life-savings sort of way, but he would have bet a paycheck or two. Ben was a good guy, deep down, even if he always acted like he'd prefer to interact with people from behind six-feet of bulletproof glass and a two-way mirror.

Some day, somewhere, he'd been bound to run into a situation where someone needed help and he wanted to give it so badly that  _this_  happened.

Poe even had the popcorn ready, and he alternated between catching pieces he tossed into his mouth and grinning like an idiot.

Except he wasn't an idiot, because he'd predicted this.

On the screen, Ben was still in a free fall, and several tentacle-things from the third and final robot wrapped around him in mid-air. The robot hovered, and they hung high in the air for a moment before the robot jerked, tentacles drawing taut as it entered a high-powered spin.

With no way to stabilize himself, Ben was torn away into a spinning, G-force powered curve. Robot and man spun for two full cycles, and the next thing Poe saw, the robot released him right at the nadir of their spin. Ben was shot down to the ground faster than a missile.

Poe imagined he could hear the crash through the window before the sound came through on the television.

The camera steadied after precious seconds of terrifying silence, and then the device focused in on a brand new smoking crater, of which Ben was crawling his way out of. The hoodie was a mess, but Poe recognized that stance. It was his  _I'm angry there's no coffee_ stance.

And that was how Poe knew Ben would be fine.

" _-or those just tuning, we're Channel 9 News! Live, downtown with an exclusive coming up in a minute with the eyewitnesses of the brutal takedown of what looked to be a trio of killer robots by an inhumanly strong man going by the name_ Kylo Ren!"

"Kylo Ren?" he laughed. "God, where'd he even come up with that?"

Poe'd been nervous hearing the blasts going off earlier. Panic and instinct told him to stay indoors, far away from the blast zone, but as soon as he'd found out about the livestream trending on Twitter, Poe opened the link and found a sight he never thought he'd see.

Ben Solo, kicking ass and engaging in some  _horrible_  flirting with Rey Johnson, of all people.

It was hard to believe things wouldn't be okay after that.

The fight ended rather anticlimactically as, instead of opting for some great dramatic takedown, Ben dug his feet deep into the ground, anchoring himself, and grabbed the next probing pair of metallic tentacles heading for him. Without further ado, he yanked on it, dragging it back down to Earth.

He did his best Hulk impression by flailing the robot over and over into the ground, shattering it more and more with each impact. By the end, the poor thing sparked, before catching fire and exploding in Ben's hands.

" _-is he okay?"_ Poe heard the reporter gasp. She sounded worried, as if she hadn't seen Ben take worse hits in the last ten minutes. An explosion would barely singe his eyebrows.

There was movement in the livestream, and Rey ducked under the police tape they'd put up around the scene. Poe listened avidly as she called out, " _Kylo Ren! Kylo Ren! Hey don't ignore me, asshole!"_

Ben didn't stick around. One second he was there and the next there was a blur in the dust as he disappeared into the night, leaping up and away faster than anyone could follow.

Silence came from the stream while the channel kept chattering on. Poe muted the TV and listened as Rey muttered some unflattering things about the town's newest superhero, punctuating and signing off with a, " _What an asshole!"_

Snorting, he flipped his tablet shut, and the man of the hour walked in as the channel changed to a commercial.

"Hey bud, what's up?"

Ben's response was a grunt that  _sort_ of sounded human. That counted as a win.

He sank further into the couch as Ben collapsed next to him, drawing a concerning creak from the furniture that hadn't been built to hold a... whatever Ben was. The robots had said something about a...  _Coralman?_ Whatever that meant.

Poe cleared his throat as his roommate let out a long groan and snapped his eyes shut, letting his head fall back against the couch. He still wore the dark hoodie he'd worn in the news clips, and dust, dirt, and ash covered him.

"So, anything fun happen today?"

Ben's only reply was a clipped, "No."

"No?" Poe hummed. "You didn't happen to... oh, I don't know. Kick a robot into outer space?"

Crickets.

Ben lifted his head and turned to glance over at him. Poe was grinning, but felt a little bad when he noticed how pale Ben had gone.

"Don't worry. You can't see your face in the news clips. Your disguise was lame as hell, and you look super gross, but it worked. Even Rey didn't realize it was you."

The guy sighed with relief, sagging into the couch. Outside, the city was still responding to all the dangers and injuries that had come from the robots crashing into the park. Hospitals would be busy over the next couple of days.

"We'll get you a better costume. Or... uniform? Disguise?"

Ben snapped to attention again, looking horrified. "What? No. Trust me, this was a one-time thing."

"Yeah, sure it was. Just like me hooking up with Finn was a one-time  _thing_." Poe rolled his eyes. "C'mon, man. You can't just unring this bell! People  _know_  now."

"They don't know jack," Ben snapped, and then turned over, throwing his arm over his face. "I'm never doing that ever again."

Poe could feel his own temper flare, but he kept a lid on it, even if it was useless with a - what was it that robot said? - psycho-empathic roommate. "Ever wonder why studios make millions every year making movies about superheroes?"

"Because people are idiots and think power solves everything?"

"Don't get cynical with me." Poe put his bowl on the table. "It's because the idea of someone out there - someone stronger or smarter, or just plain  _luckier_  - helping others when they don't have to, when they could walk away and no one would fault them, appeals to them. It gives people  _hope._ "

"Sounds like a recipe for disaster. Take it from someone with powers. They aren't- they don't fix anything wrong with the world."

"Well, sure," Poe spread his hands to the side. "But sometimes we like to see others being  _better_ than us. It gives us hope for the rest of the world."

He wondered if Ben noticed the intentional use of the word  _us_. For a guy who'd just saved who knows how many people, he could be surprisingly hopeless.

"I think we all want to be a little like them. Like heroes."

"I don't."

Poe stilled at the upset tone his best friend never used.

"I  _don't_ ," Ben repeated. "I'm not a hero, Poe. Stop trying to make me out to be one. I want to be normal - I didn't ask for this y'know, and I sure as hell don't  _want_  it."

And wasn't that a kick in the teeth?

"You  _aren't_  normal," Poe argued, his popcorn and excitement forgotten. "Man, you got drunk sophomore year and jumped off a six story building and acted like you'd missed a step going down stairs. You break shit just by touching it, and you survived a car crash-"

That was when he knew he'd gone too far, and he regretted the words before they finished leaving his mouth. Ben shoved off the couch, pushing it back a few feet, and stormed off toward his bedroom. And since Poe was a good friend who didn't let his friends be idiots and waste their talents and abilities, he followed right after him.

"Okay, I shouldn't have brought that up, but  _Ben_ , c'mon!"

The man spun on a dime, and Poe skidded to a stop.

"Stop it," he seethed. "I don't want this. Get that through your head! I'm not a hero, and a costume or a disguise won't make me one. I'm not a hero - I can't  _be_  a hero."

"Can't, or won't, Ben?"

The man stilled, and Poe continued, "Can't? Or won't? I think we both know you could be, if you wanted. Look," he sighed, "you could do some real good with this, and I guess... I'm being pushy, and I'm sorry, but I don't understand why you wouldn't take that chance."

Before Poe had the chance to say anything else, Ben took his a deep breath, working his jaw as if he was thinking of a response. Instead, he shook his head, turned, and left.

The news came back from its commercial break, and behind him, the reporter announced, " _This is Channel 9 News, back with your exclusive story on the man some people are calling the world's first real-life superhero!"_

His shoulders fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on Twitter!
> 
> [ Attack's Twitter](https://twitter.com/AttackotDC)  
> [ Onfire's Twitter](https://twitter.com/thebuildingsno1)


	5. Believer

Humans were strange, Rose Tico decided.

After spending all of last night in a leisurely cloaked flight through Earth's atmosphere tidying up the details of her newest persona, she'd arrived early to settle into her new, albeit temporary, desk. The work was tedious and during one of her breaks, she stopped for a moment to wonder if they realized how much easier life would be if they owned up to what they truly thought and felt. Her new roommate was the type of person who'd benefit from such an attitude change.

Rey was wonderful. Smart, quick with comebacks, generous, and kind. One of Rose's favorite humans so far.

But she was also in denial, because anyone with half a brain and the tiniest bit of understanding of human interactions and mating rituals would have figured out that she in fact, did  _not_  hate her coworker and possibly wanted him to be a lot  _more_ than a coworker.

It was tempting to bring up, but Rose had just met the two and she wasn't in a rush to anger either of them. Plus, their interactions were amusing.

Though, when Rey had first complained about the man, Rose hadn't expected him to be Ben Solo - as in, the son of  _Han Solo_  - and she'd been both stunned and beyond relieved that she'd finally found him.

Han had been smart when he'd arrived on the planet. He'd been careful not to leave tracks, been careful to either cloak or destroy the Falcon he'd arrived on (she still hadn't found a trace of it), and he'd even made a point not to send any communications that could be tracked to his location... except for one.

A single message that had come through about thirty earth-years ago, announcing his retirement. He'd never given them a full explanation - just an  _I'll miss you idiots_ , and a  _I'm happy, be safe and don't worry about me_.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise but it did. Those who bore the name of Kylo Ren burned brightest. They grew to love the work, true, but they also grew to love the people more. It was only a matter of time.

Safe to say, she hadn't been expecting to find out that the man had a son, and it had taken longer than expected to track him down and insinuate herself into his workplace.

Rose slumped in her chair, tapping her fingers on the desk while she continued to process the situation. The biggest question was whether Ben knew. If Ben knew, she could explain the situation and ask to be brought to Han. If he  _didn't_  know, that was more complicated.

She made a mental note to review the various Earth governments and secret organizations information systems that night for any suspicious activity that could correlate to one of the Knights. If she knew anything about Han it was that he wouldn't be able to resist trouble, peaceful life or no.

"Morning Rose," she heard her roommate-slash-coworker sigh from behind her. Rey sounded tired. Sad.

She spun around in the chair, greeting the human with a wide smile. "Hey, sorry I didn't come in with you this morning. I wanted to get here early and start working before everyone showed up." Well, that and she was still figuring out how to get one of their portable computers short of stealing, the ones with the cute animal pictures on them.

"Good idea. It'll be nuts here when everyone gets in."

"Oh?"

Rey bit at her lip, tapping her toe almost nervously. "Yeah, well, Holdo will want us all over the Kylo Ren thing."

Rose blinked. "I'm sorry, the  _what_  thing?"

"Kylo Ren?"

...oh Shining Moon, what had Han done now _?_

There was a show she'd heard of, when reading up on Earth culture, and for a moment, Rose was sure she'd just stepped into what she thought they called the  _Midnight Zone_.

She tilted her head, trying to play off as being clueless. "What's that?"

"Didn't you see the news? Or the paper? Or... I don't know." Rey shrugged. "I'm sure it's all over the internet. Kylo Ren? The guy who showed up out of nowhere and destroyed some robo- er, droids - in the park last night? Everyone's calling him a superhero."

It wasn't possible. There was no way. If the mantle was active, that meant Snoke…

"When did this happen?" Rose asked, unable to keep the fear and concern from her voice. "What time?"

Rey's eyes narrowed. "Last night, a little after eight, why?"

Her ship had been meandering somewhere over the Arctic then. It hadn't even been twenty-four hours. Good, that was good. That meant they had a month, at most. She took a deep breath, willing herself to not freak out in front of Rey, because there was no way she'd be explaining the impending nightmare to her.

"Wow," she said, trying to sound a little casual, maybe a little bored. "That's weird. I guess I'm surprised I'm just hearing about it. So, a superhero, huh? That's cool."

Humans said that, right? Cool? Rose was only glad she'd had experience doing deep-cover assignments alongside her sister. They could be annoyingly perceptive about abnormalities in speech. Never mind how fast everything changed between the decades.

When Rey didn't respond except to cross her arms and cast her eyes down at the floor, Rose got curious. "Not a superhero person?"

It was a stupid question. Rose had seen all the superhero paraphernalia upon moving in. Running shoes with a little  _Flash_  symbol, countless mugs featuring various characters, and even a tasteful poster here and there. Some may have found it childish, but Rose found it endearing. Humans seemed to idolize imaginary heroes, and Rey was no different.

Rey's response was a shrug, before she winced, prompting Rose to tap her newly-built glasses and run a scan on her new friend. Fatigue, minor cuts that she'd covered up with makeup, damage to her inner ear, and strained and joints.

Rose recognized those symptoms. Someone got too close to a Knight in full brawl mode.

"Hey, are you okay?" Rose said, feeling her out. Most people would usually spend the day in the local hospital or infirmary afterwards. "You made a face there. Is your shoulder alright?"

"I'm fine. Some people just don't know how to hold back." Rey muttered something inaudible, and then said, "I, uh. Well, I love superhero stories. Always been a big fan. The themes - hope, honor, all of that - I've always loved them. But this guy... he's not what people think."

"How so?"

Rey hesitated. "He, um. He's not a hero."

It was like being struck across the face, hearing someone claim that a Knight of Ren wasn't a hero, but Rose took care to not react. After all, wasn't that what she'd come here for?

Instead, she asked tightly, "What makes you say that?"

"He told me," Rey admitted. "Well...  _yelled_  it at me."

That wasn't possible. Han, for all his faults, loved being Kylo Ren. He loved being the hero.

Something moved behind Rey, just a desk away. It caught Rose's attention, because she'd thought they were the only two in the office.

"I can't believe how adamant he was, Rose. You should have  _seen_  what he did, but..."

Rose would have known that face anywhere, though, even if she hadn't already been introduced to Ben Solo. He was his father's kid, through and through.

"It was like it offended him when I asked him for an interview."

He was listening to them… listening with a pained expression and Rey had no idea.

She took in a shuddering breath and admitted, "I- I just don't understand. I don't understand how someone can have the ability to help and... and just reject that. What kind of person do you have to be to not want to  _help_ people when they're right  _there?"_

Rose watched over Rey's shoulder as Ben's shoulders and face fell. For a moment he looked like he was about to interrupt.

Before he got the chance, Rey shook her head.

"I'm such a fool," she murmured. "I'm talking about superheroes and  _wanting to help_  like we're in a movie, but people aren't really like that." She scoffed. "I mean, that's just common sense, isn't it? Give someone a superpower and their first thought is about how it can benefit them, not others."

At that, Ben ran a hand through his hair, the perfect portrait of a little lost boy - so, so similar to how his father had looked, the day they'd found him on Corellia.

"Sorry," Rey sighed, completely oblivious to his presence. "Sorry, I'm ranting. Just ignore me. This has got me all worked up and I'm overthinking it." She shut her eyes and shook her head again, only opening them once she'd plastered a semblance of a smile back on her face.

Ben had already walked away.

"Anyway, uh. Yeah. It was a crazy night," Rey said, her voice laced with false enthusiasm. "It'll probably be a crazy day, too. I'm gonna get coffee before Holdo gives out marching orders."

Rose nodded slowly as she turned and headed off toward the kitchen. Biting her lip, she looked around to see where Ben had wandered off to, but he wasn't around.

One thing was clear: she needed to find Ben.

Hopefully he'd have the answers she needed - most importantly, why the  _hell_  was Kylo Ren out in public claiming he wasn't a hero?

* * *

He rarely came out here.

His father's grave was outside the city, in a quiet cemetery bordered on one side by a river. He'd normally be able to make it in half an hour of a 'light jog', but with every social media feed and camera pointing towards the skies for Kylo Ren or another surprise robot attack, he'd felt prudent to lay low for the moment.

The inconvenient three hour drive on the interstate wasn't what kept him away though. Neither was the uncomfortable tree he sat against.

Ben had been sitting there for ten minutes, staring at the headstone he couldn't read. Staring as if it'd give him the answers to all his questions if he waited long enough.

Work had been hard. For once, neither he nor Rey had picked a fight with each other that morning, which was just as well, as it gave him enough solitude to slide in his mental shield and try not to break his desk with every passing mention of the number of casualties from yesterday, or how overwhelmed the hospitals were.

He was well aware he could have done something about at least some of them. He was well aware that's not what the  _actual_  Kylo Ren would have done, much as he appropriated the name for his own selfish purposes.

A chilly autumn wind whipped through the trees, rustling the leaves that littered the cemetery. Most people would have needed a jacket, but... he wasn't  _most people_ , and his sweater was more than enough. He still shivered, but it had nothing to do with the temperature.

"Do you know what it means?"

The words broke the silence, and Ben nearly jumped out of his skin. It was hard to sneak up on him, what with his better-than-average hearing. The woman winced, muttering a quiet apology, and then took a seat next to him.

Rose, he thought. He'd never been great with names, but he at least tried to remember those of his coworkers. Like him, she was underdressed for the weather and seemed unbothered by it. He had half a mind to ask her how she'd found him. He'd gone out of his way to get here and most concerned samaritans usually stopped caring at the door.

When he didn't reply, she gestured to the words on his father's headstone and asked, "The inscription. Do you know what it means?"

It wasn't the first time someone had asked. The lettering was close enough to the English alphabet to not raise many eyebrows, but neither Ben nor his mother had ever known the meaning behind the phrase his father had treasured. Markings a little like stone-hewn heartbeats decorated the sides, cradling the inscription.

"No," Ben admitted. "It was something he'd written. Left it as a note in his will. I never knew what it meant, but it seemed like he'd left it as some advice." With a dry laugh, he said, "I hope it isn't something like  _always use protection_."

Rose snorted, then cleared her throat, and read, "There's a hero in each of us, if we have the courage to take up the mantle."

His skin tightened with goosebumps, and still, he wasn't cold. Slowly, he turned his head toward her.

"How did you learn that language?"

She hesitated, as if she was trying to figure out how to explain.

"I don't need to read Latin to understand what  _carpe diem_  means. That phrase is famous where I'm from."

That begged the question  _where the hell was she from?_ Ben's mind conjured up images of Rose garbed in secret agent attire, reporting to a stern badass who looked suspiciously like Samuel L. Jackson.

Instead of asking that, Ben asked, "Why's it famous?"

"It's the motto of the Knights of Ren."

He sucked in a breath. "What?"

"The Knights of Ren?" Rose said it as though the stories were common knowledge - as if they were published and available at every Barnes and Noble and read to every kid before bed. "I assumed you'd heard of them," she shrugged, "... since I'm pretty sure you're claiming to be one."

Now he had to hope she didn't have hearing like he did, because Ben's heart was pounding, fast and hard. She couldn't know.  _Nobody_  could, because if this got out then he'd have a million expectations put on him, and he hadn't even decided for sure-

"Relax," she whispered, reaching over to squeeze his shoulder. "I won't tell anyone. If I told people, I'd have to explain how I figured it out, and I have secrets of my own to keep."

When Ben finished processing her words, he relaxed back against the tree. "You're right. Obviously I've heard of the Knights of Ren. I'm just surprised you have, too. I only know the name from the bedtime stories my father used to tell me."

"Mm, bedtime stories," she nodded. With a gesture toward the gravestone, she said, "So, your father was Han Solo?"

The way she said it was almost more of a fact than a question, but he didn't question it.

"Yeah. He died when I was a teenager. Car accident."

Some undefinable look crossed her face. Confusion twisted with pain and sorrow, but she didn't voice her feelings. He could tell the news was surprising in more ways than one, and suddenly she was a vacuous pit of emotion, flared bright and painful like burning magnesium. Ben staggered back from the raw pain, so familiar to his own, and he knew that regardless of whoever she was, Rose missed Han Solo too.

"He told me stories about them almost every night when I was growing up," Ben said, looking back to the grave. He wasn't very good at the comforting thing, and Rose was just now contending with news Ben hadn't been able to put to rest in fifteen years. "About Kylo Ren and the other knights. About how they were the heroes of the galaxy."

His voice grew quiet, so much so that he doubted Rose could even hear him.

"I just wish I believed there was such a thing as heroes."

They sat next to each other in silence, listening to the wind whipping through the trees, and watching brightly colored leaves get pulled from branches and blown around.

"Maybe there could be," Rose whispered. "Maybe someone just needs to be brave enough."

Ben wasn't oblivious to what they were talking about. Rose had seen him earlier that day - seen him, and understood how much it had squeezed the air from his lungs, listening to Rey talk as though Kylo Ren had broken her heart by rejecting the idea of being a hero.

That's why he'd come out here in the first place. He could stop hearing the pure  _hurt_  that had been in her voice, and he'd needed to think.

"I guess you're right," he admitted.

She didn't respond, and Ben folded his knees to his chest. He closed his eyes and realized the decision he had in front of him wasn't as easy as he'd thought.

Trying to change the subject, Ben asked, "You aren't from here, are you?"

When Rose still hadn't answered a minute later, he cracked an eye open and glanced over at where she'd been sitting, but she'd disappeared.

He huffed and looked back to his father's grave.

Finally, he knew the words he'd wondered about half his life, and something - some little switch buried deep inside him - flipped as he repeated them out loud for nobody to hear.

" _There's a hero in each of us, if we have the courage to take up the mantle,"_  he murmured.

With a shaky breath, he said, "Okay, Dad... message received."

* * *

Maybe he'd been scared.

Maybe he'd been intimidated, or nervous, or doubtful that he'd do any good.

But as he stood on the roof of the building in which the  _Prime Gazette_  held their offices, he only looked up at the stars, and wondered which one had a claim to  _Han Solo_.

Was it visible, or was it unfathomably far away, and impossible to see?

If his father had been alive for this, would he chuckle, pat Ben's shoulder, and call him a damned fool? Or would he be proud?

Ben wasn't sure, but at the least he thought his father would have had something to say about him claiming the name of his childhood hero - the man who'd saved the galaxy countless times with the help of his friends, at least in bedtime stories.

Cold air whipped around him. It cut straight through the hoodie he wore, and a brief thought flitted through his mind - one concerning acquiring a proper costume.

Maybe he  _was_  a damned fool.

Still, fool or not, he'd decided, and it was about to be official. Official, assuming  _she_  showed up.

He paced the section of the roof he'd landed on, then checked his watch. Night vision wasn't a specialty of his, but the watch was back-lit and showed she was two minutes late.

After her first run-in with  _Kylo Ren_ , he wouldn't blame her if she didn't bother to show. Ben spent a moment concerned that she may not have even seen the email he'd sent (from a brand new  _kyloren_ email). His message had been clipped and short. Most people would ignore it.

_I'm sorry. Want to talk? Meet at top of 23 Republic Drive at 7 o' clock._

His nervous wondering was cut short as the door to the stairway creaked open and then banged not-quite-closed against the cement block that prevented them from getting stuck.

"You had something you wanted to say?"

Ben turned, careful to keep his head low under the hood. The darkness of night would help, but enough people already knew, and he wasn't sure how she'd handle the truth.

Still, he chanced a glance at her.

Her anger was beautiful, somehow. Or... maybe she was always beautiful no matter her mood. The wind pulled her hair back, and her soft curls blew to the side while a lock fell down across her face, before she brushed it aside. Rich hazel eyes, bright and accusatory, shined even in the dark.

He'd been a goner the moment he'd seen those eyes and her perfect, mouthy set of lips.

"I'm waiting," she huffed.

Rey Johnson didn't take shit from anyone - not even a man she'd seen pick up and toss a car.

Somehow in the plethora of things he found heart-stoppingly attractive about her, her willful obstinacy to tell an entire world hellbent on putting her down where to shove it topped the list.

Before she did something like roll her eyes and storm off, he took a step closer to her, tilting his head down in her direction. She didn't freak out, so Ben assumed she couldn't see his face. That, and the metaphorical mask he hid behind that granted him a confidence he hadn't been expecting.

He hummed, and let his voice come out husky and low, the way he'd talk to her if she someday deemed to join him in something their boss wouldn't approve of them doing at work.

(Wishful thinking.)

"So you are. Thank you for meeting me."

She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest. "What if I just wanted the opportunity to tell you what a coward I think you are?" Ben let her continue, and she shoved a pointed finger into his chest, snapping, "You know, I wasn't sure at first, but I bet there are people all over the world who would do  _good_  if they had your abilities. But here you are, passing up this incredible opportunity to help people, without a single-"

Rey stopped mid sentence and let out a surprised exhale as he grabbed the hand by his chest and pulled her to him.

And thank whatever deities existed that only one of them had better-than-average hearing, because Ben could hear his own blood singing in his veins as he caught her with an arm around her waist.

He had her pressed up against his chest, bent back so she could stare up at him, and she seemed just as shocked as he.

"I- how  _dare-_ "

"You're right," he interrupted, before she slapped him or  _worse_. "You're right. It was wrong of me to say what I did. I've been selfish. I've been thinking of how inconvenient this is. I never considered that it might be a blessing, not a curse. That's why I've changed my mind."

Her mouth opened, and she relaxed against him, her anger deflating.

"Oh," she breathed. "Oh. That's great. So you'll be a... superhero?"

Ben winced at the title. "I don't know if that's the right word for it. But... I'll try to help. That's all I can promise." On a whim, he tacked on: "That, and an interview."

Her eyes lit up, and even though she couldn't see it, he cracked a smile.

That was when he realized her hands were splayed across his chest, and instantly he felt like a teenager again, shy and flustered.

"What changed your mind?" Her voice was quieter now. Not quite a whisper, but it wasn't the tone she'd ever used while he was  _Ben Solo_.

He paused. That wasn't something he was sure of, but when he looked down at her and stared into wide, hopeful hazel eyes, the reason hit him.

Lifting a hand, he tilted her chin up and leaned down.

Ben was close enough to kiss her, and he was seconds from doing so when her eyes fluttered closed, and he panicked. Blinking down at her, he settled for whispering the words against her lips.

"I needed someone to remind me I could do better."

And then he was gone in a flash, leaving her jacket billowing around her, and he watched from a distance as she slowly opened her eyes and let out a long breath.

She smiled.

An unfamiliar peace seeped in and settled in his chest as he heard her murmur, "See you 'round,  _Kylo Ren."_

* * *

Space was freezing.

In all her years-

(Though, what did that phrase  _all her years_  mean now that she'd lost track of them? The mantle she'd been offered upon leaving Hays Minor offered her just that. Years. Years and power, both unlimited compared to that of her kind, so the phrase was worthless.)

She'd still never grown accustomed to it.

Her compatriot noticed her discomfort and though her Shyriiwook wasn't perfect, she knew he was offering a hug - an offer she took him up on. His fur was thick and warm, and despite her age, he patted her on the head as though she a child.

She could almost pretend everything was normal.

But then the hologram snapped on, reminding her who she - who  _they_  - belonged to. They split apart from each other before the terrifying image spoke.

His voice hit her like daggers of bitter steel.

"My Knights."

Instinctively, they dropped. Heads bowed, knees bent. The thing in the hologram crooned, pleased by their deference. By their  _submission._

Some voice buried inside her begged,  _pleaded_  for her to know what a perversion this was of everything they once were. Of everything they were meant to be.

_The Knights knelt for no one._

Another voice sounding much like her own tacked on:  _What is a Knight without her liege?_

"I have a mission for you," he announced, haughty and demanding. "The probe droids have succeeded - the fifth mantle has been found and taken up. It is no longer dormant."

Ice tore at her heart, but at least it confirmed she still had a heart capable of breaking.

If the mantle had been taken up, it had to have been passed on in death. Her compatriot let out a low, aching noise from beside her, knowing just as well as she that one of their family was gone.

"You've now received coordinates. Go. Find the mantle of Kylo Ren. Find the foolish being who claimed it and bring them to me. Soon the Knights of Ren will be whole once more."

A sickly feeling crawled over her skin as the being hissed, "Whole. And  _mine."_

Still, she bowed her head.

"Yes, Supreme Leader."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on Twitter!
> 
> [ Attack's Twitter](https://twitter.com/AttackotDC)  
> [ Onfire's Twitter](https://twitter.com/thebuildingsno1)


	6. Legend

" _I'll tell you a different one tonight, kid. That okay?"_

_At nine, maybe he should have outgrown stories and being tucked into bed, but he was still a child. A child who hoped the stories were...more. And so, Ben rested back against his pillows and made room for his father to sit on the bed next to him._

" _I haven't heard all of them?" he asked._

_His father shook his head. He looked the same as always. Invincible. "Nah. Your mom didn't want me to tell you some of them until you were older. The story I'm telling you tonight is about a secret mission that three of the Knights went on together. It was dangerous - they almost didn't make it."_

_Ben scoffed. "Nobody could take out the Knights."_

_For a moment, his father looked proud as a sort-of cocky smile grew on his face. He chuckled. "Fair enough. Anyway, for a minute there it wasn't looking good, but you're right. The Knights had things under control. Mostly."_

_He leaned over and turned the projector-lamp on Ben's bedside table on while Leia came in and turned the bedroom light off. In the dark, the lamp lit up with a view of the night sky. It projected thousands of stars onto the walls and ceiling of his bedroom, and next to him, his father relaxed, and sighed._

" _Long ago, Kylo Ren went on a mission with two other Knights. The three of them headed to the forest moon of Endor. Kylo Ren didn't know what to expect there, so he asked Chew- uh, I mean, Bocid Ren - a giant walking-carpet of a Wookie - to come with him. Do you remember what his power was?"_

_Ben almost rolled his eyes. He'd had the names and abilities of all the Knights memorized for years. "He talked to animals."_

" _Sort of, yeah. He was an elemental. Or a shaman. He was never clear whenever I- uh, Kylo Ren - asked him about it. Said he kept thinking too small."_

_His dad was a dork. Ben had long outgrown the fantasy that his dad was one of the Knights._

_Five or six years later, he'd have confirmation, because a car crash couldn't have killed Kylo Ren._

" _Anyway, he saw the world through nature, and he could understand any living thing. His power wasn't the best in a fight, but he had all the knowledge and experience of anyone who'd ever held the Bocid Ren mantle, so he was very, very wise. Or... at least that's what he told everyone. Proud bastard. He was also Kylo Ren's best friend."_

_His father patted his head, and continued, "Since Endor was forested, Bocid Ren was right in his element there. It reminded him of his home. The third Knight on the mission was Vara Ren. She and her sister had come from a planet where their people were slaves, but they found a mantle. Still not sure how, but I guess it doesn't matter. The right people usually found the mantles. So, she became Vara Ren and her sister stuck around to help strategize and stuff. Anyway, what about her powers? Remember those?"_

_Ben frowned. "Why'd she go? If it was a forest, she wouldn't be helpful, right? Wasn't her power about computers and tech stuff?"_

" _Careful kid. If you ever meet her, don't let her hear you say that." Han chortled, as if Ben would ever meet these fictional characters for real. "It wasn't just a forest, and you're forgetting, Vara Ren was the brains, and one of the more dangerous ones in the group. See, the three of 'em were there to infiltrate the evil Empire's defense systems, and she'd get them past all the security. Without her, the Knights never would have blown up the Empire's giant weapon!"_

" _The Death Star? They blew it up?"_

" _Hmm, I got ahead of myself here." The man huffed a laugh, ruffled Ben's hair, and grinned. "Now that I spoiled the ending, I think I should start at the beginning."_

_The words Ben had heard a thousand times, and never grown tired of, left his father's mouth._

" _A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away…"_

* * *

"-now clear that these appearances have been conclusively proven false. Professional examination of the site showed the explosions were caused by several poorly maintained gas lines-"

 _Click_.

"-annel Six with your local news. Federal investigators have confirmed that the man going by the alias Kylo Ren is a hoax pushed forward by internet hacktivist group-"

_Click._

"-pause it here! See, you can see the contour and shadow of an amateur video-cropping. All right, keep reeling. Notice how he doesn't catch fire? Trick lighting and good-"

 _Click_.

"-course he's real, but the question we should ask is  _is he good?_  Sure, he's done a few good things, but what's his agenda? Can we trust him? We're making a mistake, assuming-"

_Click_

"-with doubts being cast on the existence of Kylo Ren, France and Russia have issued formal statements agreeing with Presidential statements regarding non-existence of any human or humanoid experimentation, hoping to create what some are calling a Captain Kylo serum. In just a few minutes, we'll see the emergency United Nations summit addressing-"

 _Click_.

"-some are calling a marketing scheme. In the weeks since his arrival, television shows and feature films starring superheroes have shown a noticeable increase in sales and-"

 _Click_.

"-been saying this from the beginning - superheroes aren't real. Someone saw a few too many movies, and they decided it'd be fun to-"

_Click._

"-houldn't we be discussing how dangerous this prank, hoax - whatever you want to call it - could be? We need to hold this  _Kylo Ren_ person accountable. These stunts seem harmless  _now_ , but what happens if some kid tries to copy them and gets themselves killed? Are we going to wait until Kylo Ren has blood on his hands before we worry? And-"

This time, Ben shut the TV off, and covered his face with both hands, groaning. On the floor above him, his neighbor's TV continued to recite everything that was fake or nonexistent about his alter-ego.

"Come on, why're you even watching this shit?" Poe grumbled. He dropped down next to Ben on the couch, offered him a plate of peanut butter toast. "Why are you even up this early? You're never up early enough for the news. What, did you finally find an unbreakable alarm clock?"

Ben muttered something spiteful. He still hadn't replaced his smart phone, which he'd pulled out of his droid-attack jeans a few weeks ago, and since then his sense of time had gotten even worse.

He shook his head, taking a piece of toast. "Weird dreams. Couldn't sleep."

"Have you had coffee yet?"

"Have you forgotten what happened last time I tried making coffee?"

It had been an absolute disaster that involved a shattered coffee pot and scalding hot coffee splashing everywhere.

Poe grimaced. "Never mind." He sighed and rolled his eyes at the black screen. "Give it a few more weeks. The novelty of it will wear off and they'll stop trying to disprove it."

"It's not novelty that's an issue," Ben pointed out. "Once the government declared it was a hoax, everyone said  _Kylo Ren_  can't be trusted, because  _apparently_  I'm a dumbass running around the city stopping crime with special effects." He huffed angrily. "I've got nothing better to do than prank the entire world, right? And anyone who believes it  _is_  real is claiming I might be dangerous."

Being a superhero - and Ben still cringed whenever he was called that - came with a lot of extra baggage. Everyone seemed to have an opinion about Kylo Ren, including Google. Within days of his debut, they'd locked the new email accounts he'd used to contact Rey, and then closed it.

He was just glad he'd figured out how to cover his tracks when he'd made the account. It would have been embarrassing to have his secret identity discovered after his first week.

"It can't all be bad right?" Poe tried. "I mean, at least you're now able to work out any kinks in your powers. You don't seem like you're going to die every time we're in an all-staff meeting any more.  _And,_ you've got a lead on who to talk to about the droid-stuff. That's good, right?"

"Who, Rose?" Ben groaned. "I wish. She's avoiding me. I  _know_  she knows what's going on, but every time I try to ask she figures out a way to disappear. It's like she can tell whenever I'm looking for her."

Poe nodded and then looked at him more critically. He sniffed and made a face. "That why you smell like the catch of the day?"

"Don't start." Ben sighed and tried to think positive thoughts about his infuriating office manager. "I followed her to the docks last night. Broke into a warehouse where they store their haul before processing."

"But?" Poe fished for more. He kept his expression placid but Ben could taste the sweetness of his amusement beneath it.

"But when I got inside she was gone."

"Why not confront her in plain daylight?"

"Because I  _can't,_ " Ben snapped. "It's like I've got a ball around my neck or something. Whenever I get close, she's gone. I can't sense her at all. I feel a vague psychic imprint in the area and it always feels like she's laughing at me."

"I can't imagine why."

Ben glared at him. "Is this what you thought would happen when you pushed this hero thing?"

"No, but can you honestly say it isn't worth it? It's only been a few weeks and you've already saved lives, Ben. What about... what about that guy you saved last week? The one trying to save his wife's cat? Are you saying that wasn't worth it?"

Ben crossed his arms over his chest.

It'd been his highest profile appearance since the droid attack. The man had run back into a burning apartment building after getting his two young kids out, and Ben wouldn't have known had it not been for the crying children who'd been standing on the sidewalk waiting for their dad to come back.

His shoulders fell. "Yeah, of course it was worth it."

Poe nudged him with an elbow. "It'll die down. Let's stick to Netflix. Give the news a break. So long as you don't make any major public appearances it should die down."

"Give the news a break? We work at a newspaper. We  _literally_  report the news."

"Oh. Right."

Ben snorted, and after a moment he glanced over at Poe. The man had a point, loathe as he was to admit it.

"So, that's it then? Ignore it and it'll go away? That's terrible advice - it didn't work with  _you,_  why would it work with this?"

"And here I made you breakfast, you dick," Poe laughed. He stood, gesturing toward their door. "C'mon, we might actually get to work on time. Go take a shower and we can stop for coffee on the way."

Ben let his eyes linger on the blank TV screen for a minute and nodded.

* * *

Rey stopped short, and her coffee came dangerously close to slopping over the rim of the full mug Rose had handed her. It wasn't her fault - couldn't be helped, because she was staring at a shocking sight.

Ben Solo, sitting at his desk.  _Early._

And, not just early. For the first time, he'd arrived at work before she had and he looked exhausted, alternating between running a hand through his disheveled hair and tapping a pencil against that thick bottom lip-

Nope. No, no, definitely no. She shook her head as though it would shake the thought from her mind, and let her resting bitch face take over as she approached their desks and took a seat, ignoring him.

Rey wasn't sure of where they stood now. Before, they'd been equals of a sort; competitors at least, but after he'd saved her from an exploding glass pane, she'd found she couldn't stick to the status quo. Even though she'd been tied up in the drama surrounding the newest appearance of Kylo Ren, she'd been relieved to see Ben back at work the day after the droid attack, glad his injuries hadn't been bad.

She couldn't have stood the guilt if he'd been hospitalized for protecting her.

Oddly, Ben didn't acknowledge her presence. He kept scrolling through his phone, huffing and rolling his eyes. Just as she was about to ask what his problem was, he snapped, "Is it so impossible to believe, or is everyone on the internet an asshole?"

Rey glanced around, but the office was still mostly empty. Rose was the only other person in, and she seemed to be avoiding Ben lately.

Reluctantly, Rey asked, "... are you talking to me?"

"Yeah, I'm talking to you," he muttered, then dropped his phone to the desk, crossed his arms, and glared at it. "What the hell sort of proof do they need? Kylo Ren's birth certificate? Blood samples? A family history?"

Ah. It was a  _Ben Solo_  rant. These never ended well.

"-because from where I'm sitting it seems like the whole world thinks he's fake, which okay,  _maybe_  it's surprising that there's such a thing as a guy like Kylo Ren, but-"

Rey interrupted, "Hey, hey, relax."

He paused, and looked over at her, then sunk into his chair. That was when she noticed what a mess he was. Bedhead was a normal look for him, but the dark circles under his eyes weren't, and neither was the weary, bone-tired expression.

"I know, it's frustrating," she admitted. "I'm pissed, too. That's why I wanted to get this interview with him, but he  _still_  hasn't responded to any of my emails." Rey sighed. "What was the point of emailing me if he won't answer a single response?"

Forty-two emails. The first dozen had been polite. Professional, even.

She'd only gotten desperate and pissed from there. In the latest email she'd called him out for flirting with her and running off without a word. It was  _possible_  she'd stooped low enough to call him a coward for not contacting her again, especially since he'd promised an interview.

Her inbox was getting full and if he didn't answer her soon she was thinking of temporarily suspending her social media accounts. Someone had identified her from her livestream the night of the droid attack, and overnight she'd gained thousands of new followers across all platforms.

It made filtering out her inboxes while hoping to find that  _one_  credible email almost impossible. In the last few weeks she'd been inundated with hundreds of messages from brand new accounts, all hoping to meet with her in person, claiming to be the  _real_  Kylo Ren.

"What if he's been busy?" Ben offered. He almost sounded ashamed, or embarrassed for his outburst. "He's been doing all this stuff around the city and putting up with these claims that it's all a hoax, so maybe now he's nervous about putting himself out there for an interview."

"That's a shitty excuse."

It wasn't. She was just bitter, and the worst part was that she  _knew_  it.

Ben glowered over at her. "You don't know what this guy is dealing with."

"How hard is it to answer an email?"

"Rey, that's not the  _point,_ and you know, there may be a good reason he can't."

"Why don't you explain what the point  _is_  then, since you're in this guy's head!"

"That's not-"

"Excuse me!" The loud voice silenced her and turned Ben's almost-livid expression into something resigned, and Rey winced, slowly turning in her chair to face Amilyn Holdo. The woman had her hands perched on her hips, and she stood in front of their desks, staring down at them like a school-teacher who'd caught two students arguing.

Unconsciously, Rey straightened her posture and tidied her shirt.

"My office. Now," Holdo barked. She pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'll be in to talk with you two in a minute. Try not to kill each other in the meantime. I'd hate to have to clean blood off my floor."

Like a pair of chastised dogs, both she and Ben rose and marched to Holdo's office, neither of them turning to look at each other. Rey felt the heat lamp intensity of Holdo's stare on her neck the whole way.

Holdo's office was the perfect blend of spartan and lavish, in hues of soothing teal and dark hardwood. The woman had a lush love-seat the color of bark made of a soft material that Rey only wished she could afford. Two chairs were parked across it, on the other side of a coffee table that gleamed and smelled of a pine-scented finish. A single, massive oak desk was in the corner, holding a computer and a rainforest's worth of manila folders and papers.

Ben went to one chair, sinking into it like it was made of clouds. The door closed behind him, rattling the frame and Rey with it.

"Well, don't you look comfy."

A baleful, reluctant eye opened to glare at her. The corner of his lips twitched upwards.

"Rey Johnson, in the editor's office, with a vase."

The reference almost made her smile. When he relaxed without those frown lines and that vibrating spiteful energy about him, Rey was once again struck by how utterly unfair Ben Solo's shoulders were.

Claiming the other chair for herself, Rey cocked a smirk back at him. "Ben Solo, in the lobby, with a candlestick."

He looked around, unimpressed. "Do you see a candlestick around here?"

"Fine, make it rope."

His eyebrows threatened to disappear behind his hairline. "Rope?"

"Or your tie," Rey shrugged, and crossed her legs. Alone in a room, it was like his stare got heavier. Like she had the full weight of his attention. "I've never had someone start a peace-offering by telling me how I'd murder them though."

"Like you haven't considered it," he fired back. The tightness in his eyes had loosened, and she saw him ponder her, waiting for Holdo to come and interrupt. "Is that what you think this is? A peace-offering?"

Rey picked at her nails, acutely aware of his glaze-worthy stare. He was wearing a cream white shirt today, one that seemed a little small on him. That, combined with the odd olive branch was making her nervous.

They met each other's stares for longer than was necessary for Holdo to do whatever she'd needed to do.

"I'm sorry."

"I'd like to apologize."

"What?" Rey shot him an incredulous look. "Wait, why are  _you_ apologizing?"

Ben swallowed thickly and put a hand to his face, as if to cover up the tinge of red that was forming across his cheeks. "I know I haven't been the best coworker. I don't think I'm to blame for everything, but you made some good points in the pizza parlor a few weeks ago. Before, y'know..."

"Before we both nearly died because some magical space robots turned our lives into a disaster movie?"

"Magical space robots?" He laughed and seemed inordinately amused by that description but he caught himself from exploring her turn of phrase further. "Uh, yeah. Before that. I've been doing some soul-searching and…"

Oh. He was blushing  _and_  smiling. Rey's treacherous mind jumped to wondering if the blush extended lower than his neck, and how far it reached below that crisp white collar.

She cleared her throat and hoped her couldn't tell what she was thinking. "Well that makes this a little awkward." Ignoring her thoughts about how soft his hair would feel in her hands, Rey got the conversation back on topic. "I was going to apologize to you."

"You were?" His bewildered expression was a fine replacement for his angry, scowly one. "What for?"

"For being a jerk. For pressuring you, I guess. I just- I-"

Rey took a moment to focus. Apologies didn't come easy to her. Her entire skin felt itchy, like being under the limelight and having thousands of people stare at her on stage, except thousands of people was really just the one. "I'm terrible at letting things be. At seeing something wrong and moving on. If I something I can do about it, I have a hard time stopping myself from interfering."

"Is that why you were on my case about my tardiness?"

"Sort of, it's more complicated than that. I've been told I hold others to an unusual high bar. I'm working on it."

They were silent, the sun shining in from a wide set of windows inlaid high on the wall, the distant echoes of a city in the wake of its first superhero lazily drifting in.

She spoke at the same time he did.

"Seems like-"

"I guess we're-"

The door opened, and they both shut their mouths and turned back to the fruitless examination of the coffee table and the ceiling.

Holdo walked in, breezing through the previous airs of Rey and Ben's conversation like a skiff along the ocean tide. Her purple hair was in a gorgeous cut that accentuated her cheekbones. She came around to the desk, grabbed a file, and sat down on the two-seater in front of them.

"Now that I've got your attention," Holdo drawled, "I've got an assignment for you. If you can handle it without picking a fight." She sighed. "Since the  _Prime Gazette_  was the first source on Kylo Ren, our reputation is...  _questionable_  if these hoax claims pan out." Nodding to Rey, she ordered, "Check in with the local police, see what they've got to say. See if they've got insight as to where he might show up next. We'll be in a better spot if we get a photo or an interview."

Rey perked up. "Are... are you giving me free rein to investigate him?"

"You,  _and_  Solo."

The woman must have noticed how Rey's eyes grew wide with disbelief, because she added, "And I  _don't_  want any arguments from either of you. Individually, you're great reporters but this is  _big_. I need you both on this."

Ben sat up in his chair, and for a moment she was relieved he was usually a pushy jerk. If  _he_  was the one to insist they work separately, it'd piss Holdo off and  _maybe_  she'd reassign it just to Rey, which-

But he wrecked her hopes and opened his mouth to say something that wasn't self-sabotaging.

"Poe's boyfriend is a police officer, and he'll be a good in at the station. And we may as well bring Poe - he'll be good to have around if you want a photo."

So, not only was he accepting their assignment, but he was  _helping?_

Holdo nodded. "Good idea. Take Poe and keep me updated. Consider this your top priority - don't come back here until you've got something for me."

And then the woman walked off before Rey could protest to anything.

"If I get Poe, can you be ready to leave in ten?"

Rey swung around to face him, blinking at how he'd accepted their new assignment. With a shrug, he added, "C'mon, you know you want proof. Is working with me to get it  _really_  that bad?"

Despite his obvious exhaustion, a hint of a smile touched at the corners of his mouth, and it caught her eye. Since she was insane and hadn't had a chance to drink the coffee that would put her in her right mind, she let her eyes linger on that mouth.

Those full, generous, red lips that would feel  _so-_

They curled into a smirk.

"See something you like,  _partner?"_

The spell broke; his words drenching her in ice water, and she scoffed.

"Not a chance. Let's go. And I am  _not_  your partner."

Ben hesitated, but shrugged again. "Whatever you say...partner."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on Twitter!
> 
> [ Attack's Twitter](https://twitter.com/AttackotDC)  
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	7. Guardians

A knock on his door distracted Finn from the paperwork he'd been slogging through.

"Come in," he said without looking up.

After a moment of awkward quiet, someone cleared their throat. "Sir?"

Sighing, Finn grabbed a bright blue post-it and marked his spot in the page's margin. "What's up?"

The face poking his head into his office was young - one of the new uniformed officers going through the usual rotation. He had freckles to match the red mop of hair on his head and a youthful nervousness that could only improve with experience.

"You've got visitors," the new guy said. A quick look around the office had him grimacing at the mess.

Finn blinked and tried to remember if he'd scheduled anything for today. "Who is it? Wait, no never mind. Tell them I'm not in." His mouth twisted in distaste. "I need to finish this report and I can't deal with visitors right now."

The past month had been a blur of report after arrest after another report. He'd barely had time to think most days, and the seedy convenience store guy where Finn picked up his fourth dose of coffee for the day knew him by name now.

"Okay. Sure." The kid shuffled, feet still planted outside the threshold of his office. "It's just, they said they know you? Like, personally."

"Many people know me," Finn said drily. "Many of them have said they'll never forget my face. They rarely mean it nicely."

It gave him a grim satisfaction to say it, and he could see the already pale officer swallow. Definitely a new hire then.

The kid disappeared, and for thirty glorious seconds Finn was left in peace. It ended when the kid poked his head back in.

"One of them says he's your boyfriend. A Mr. Dameron?"

Finn paused, his quick-fire response drying up in his throat. Poe  _had_  brought up the idea of visiting each other during lunch breaks now that he worked at the  _Prime Gazette_ , just down the street.

Work had kept him so swamped with this Kylo Ren thing he and Poe hadn't had a date in over a week. They'd texted, but text couldn't replace the fireplace warmth of a person like Poe Dameron.

Loneliness won out over sensibility and he sank back into his chair.

"You can let them in," he sighed.

The kid nodded and left, clearing the view of his door so he could see the dark wooden placard nailed into it at face height announced the room's denizen to the outside world.

_Sgt. Finn Storm_

He didn't have to wait long for his surprise visitors.

Poe always moved and sounded like someone who would take you down to the bar and buy you a drink. The guy liked people, enjoyed being among them, and most people liked him, too. Most of Finn's mainstay officers liked Poe, and those who didn't just hadn't met him.

"Hey honey," Poe said, walking into Finn's office without skipping a beat. "Thought you were going to kick me out. What, am I not good-looking enough for you anymore?"

His tone was teasing, and something tight and scared inside Finn's chest unclenched. He'd been worried things had gotten strained with how busy they'd both been over the past few weeks.

"Your pretty face is too distracting. I'd never get any work done if you visited me all the time," Finn muttered back. Rising from his chair, he came around and gave his boyfriend a warm hug. Then he did a quick check out his door and, because he was feeling touch-starved and because it was  _his_  office they were standing in, dammit - he planted a kiss on his boyfriend's mouth.

"Yeah, I've missed you, too," Poe said, grinning.

There were others waiting to come into his office, so Finn walked back around his desk and sat back down in his chair. "Come on, let's stop giving the rubberneckers water-cooler material. Sit down."

Poe grabbed the chair closest to the wall and in followed his roommate, Ben Solo. Before Finn could wonder what he might want, a third person came in.

It wasn't someone he'd expected to see in their company.

" _Rey?"_

She smiled as she closed the door behind her, and she sounded unapologetic when she replied. "Hey there, Sergeant Storm."

Finn pinched the nose. "Please tell me you're not fishing for a story."

"Okay, I won't."

Finn looked between Rey and Poe, both of whom looked the picture of innocence. Then he looked to Ben, who he'd always liked. He thought the guy's temperance and caution would be a good influence on Poe.

"Do you want me to lie to you, too?" His eyes kept drifting over to Rey, but -  _wait, was she the coworker Poe kept saying Ben needed to get locked in a room with?_

At least Ben had the temerity to meet his disapproving stare.

"Wait a sec." Finn rose, scuttled past Ben, and turned the  _gone to lunch_  sign he'd hung from a thumb-tacked corkboard on the outside of his doorway. There was a layer of dust on it from where it had hung for weeks straight without touch.

When he turned, Rey had seated herself in the other chair, with Ben leaning back against the wall, looming over them like an amused statue. "This isn't a social visit, is it?"

"Well-" Rey started.

"You see…" Poe followed.

He sank back down into his chair. Whatever trouble they were up to was still better than paperwork.

"Just, please tell me it's not about Kylo Ren."

"Sorry, Finn." Rey's smile would have lit the Batcave. "No dice."

He raised an eyebrow and glanced at his boyfriend. The man was way too comfortable, leaning back in his chair, avoiding Finn's storm-cloud stare with practiced ease, and inspecting the various curios and idiosyncrasies of the office.

Ben's brows furrowed together. "Uh, how do you and Rey know each other?"

Cracking his neck, Finn reached down and grabbed a can of soda. If he was going to put off paperwork regarding Kylo Ren to talk with his boyfriend  _about_  Kylo Ren, he was going to damn well get some sugar and caffeine in his bloodstream.

"Police academy," Finn said, taking a long gulp. "About… six years ago?"

Rey shrugged. "Seven. At least, that's how long your grandma's been sending me birthday cards."

"She still does that?" He shook his head in wonder, then explained to Ben, "We were in the same class. Rey was one of the youngest recruits, and we stuck together."

"Finn had me beat for top spot," Rey mentioned. She was clearly trying not to be too obvious about getting a glance at the names and words on the various files on hiss desk. He pulled the manila folder on the edge closer, and she fixed him with a playful glare. "He's half the reason I passed at all."

"Really?" Ben seemed surprised by this information. He turned his curious stare in her direction. "Why'd you switch to journalism?"

She ignored him, and Finn turned the conversation back to something less sensitive. "Are you all here on official business?"

"Yes," Ben answered, ever the professional.

"Not… exactly," Rey corrected.

Something charged and electric passed in the air between them and Finn was suddenly glad he'd shut his door. There was enough talk going on with the Feds waving their papers around; if word got out that reporters were talking to him after his censure, Finn doubted they'd even take the time to scrape his name off the door before planting another guy in his chair.

He nodded, looking at his soda. "Well that helped me understand exactly nothing."

Poe just sat back in his chair, watching the proceedings like it was a ping pong match.

Turning in her chair to face her coworker, Rey huffed. "Learn to read the room. You saw the looks we got coming in."

"Exactly." Ben's tone was level. Tight and controlled. He sounded like he was exhausted, and Finn thought he saw him grit his teeth. "Holdo wanted us to get information, and the best way to do that without casting doubts on our sources is to keep things as transparent as possible."

"And we will. As soon as we know what questions we need to ask," Rey turned back to Finn. "We're off the record for this conversation. I swear."

It wasn't a legally binding agreement, and he was sure Rey knew that.

He'd never have considered doing this for anyone else, but this was the girl who'd paid for his grandmother's round-trip plane ticket when money had been tight all around, all just so his grandmother could come see him graduate wearing his sharpest uniform, top of the class of a bunch of badasses.

"This never leaves this room." Finn decided on.

Ben shot him a betrayed look, while Rey fist bumped Poe, who'd been watching the conversation like it was a ping pong match.

Drinking the rest of his can, he tossed it into the near overflowing wastebasket and turned back to his guests. "So. Kylo Ren. Why're you looking into him?"

Poe quirked his lips and leaned back, fingers interlocking together behind his head. "What, you mean beyond the fact that three weeks ago everyone was on-board the brand new  _Captain Kylo_  train and now suddenly they aren't?"

Ben snorted. "Captain Kylo?"

"It's what some people on the forums have been calling him," Rey explained. "Many people don't get meaning behind his name, or they think it's lame, so they've been calling him different things. Captain Kylo, Rentasmo, Mr. Hoody Darkman, Hobo Ren…"

"Hobo Ren?" He sounded physically pained.

Finn, who'd had Cyber scour through the forums for any clues on the possible-superhero, laughed. "They're referring to the fact that he looked like he got socked through a construction site and a wall in those videos he debuted in. Guy looked super gross."

"It was two walls." At everyone's surprised look, Ben backpedaled. "I saw some videos. On YouTube. Yeah. Uh, fan analyses and stuff." An awkward beat passed. "I didn't know about the forums."

The man was a terrible liar. A trustworthy trait in a reporter, but he could see that Rey didn't buy that flimsy excuse.

Poe looked like he was having the time of his life.

Ben cleared his throat. "I think we're getting off-track here. Is there anything you can tell us about Kylo Ren that we don't know already, sergeant?"

"The Hosnian Police Department doesn't recognize the authenticity of the figure going by the alias of Kylo Ren. Official investigations have been conducted and found that any allusion to super or enhanced individuals are nothing more than fiction." Finn took a breath and said, in as bored and monotone a voice as possible, "Kylo Ren is not real."

A moment of silence spread through the office before Rey's disdainful snort interrupted it.

"Cool," she said blandly. "Now stop treating us like mushrooms, Finn. Have the Feds moved in yet?"

He rolled his eyes and pointed up at the ceiling. "They moved in upstairs the morning after. An entire football team of them. They took over the bullpen for weeks, requisitioned a ton of equipment, and ruined the kitchen before the captain got pissed and they moved into the building next door." He couldn't stop the wryness in his tone when he said, "Turns out the real estate market isn't so hot with a super flying around causing property destruction. This close to the explosion, rent's dirt cheap right now."

"Explosion." The word grabbed Ben's interest. "Is that the official stance? What's your take on it?"

"Explosion. Point of impact. Arena. Call it what you will, the city's not in good shape since the robots attacked."

"Droids," Rey corrected. She leaned forward against his desk, fingers tapping the wood. "What about you, do you think he's real?"

"He's real." Finn scratched his chin, agitated. "Even if I hadn't seen it all go down in real time and in person, you wouldn't lie about this stuff."

He gestured to the papers on his desk. "Honestly, your statement's the best thing I've got to a credible lead but it's not much."

Ben shifted position against the wall, crossing his arms. "So you're still investigating him? What about the HPD's official stance?"

"The statement still stands," Finn conceded. "Doesn't mean we aren't looking into who he might be. We're barred from investigating him, but that doesn't stop us from looking into say, the mysterious windblast that tossed a fifty-seven-year-old man into a brick wall. Or the string of people checking in to the hospital complaining about whiplash and dislocated shoulders."

"The  _what?_ " Ben sounded horrified. The amused air around he and Poe drained into something sickly and stunned.

Only Rey, who looked grim, seemed unsurprised by this piece of news. If Finn remembered the report right, she'd had to check into the hospital to make sure she'd suffered no internal injuries from being so close to the robot fight.

"Keep it down. I don't need Internal Affairs catching wind that I'm talking about this stuff with reporters," he told them. "He's real. Unis have standing orders to bring him in if they see him, under suspicion to incite public disorder and conspiracy to commit grand arson."

"Wait, so you're telling me the cops both  _don't_  believe he exists, but they also want to arrest him?" Poe shook his head, disbelieving. "How does that make sense?"

"It's politics," Rey said, hissing through her teeth. She looked around the office, at the small space he'd been essentially living one for most of the last month. "That's why you got shunted off here too, isn't it?"

Finn bit the inside of his cheek. Her guess was right on the mark, but the wound was fresh. "I was talking one night at the bar with the guys and we got into a talk about Kylo Ren. Turns out, the higher ups don't like their officers contradicting public statements even in their private time. Some team members had been angling for a promotion and guess who got the notice the next morning that he was being transferred down here?"

"But you're still a sergeant, right?" Rey pressed.

"Kept my rank and everything. I just can't mouth off or step too far out of line unless I want IA to take a good long look at me and my new team."

Rey muttered a string of words that would've made a pious person look for the nearest place of worship. "They took you from your  _team_?"

"You've got to be kidding me!" Poe's eyes were wide, his mouth dropped in open outrage, prompting Ben to flinch.

Neither of them had caught his phrasing. The word  _team_  sounded rotten to Finn now. Like hearing nails on a chalkboard, his skin crawled the longer he reminisced on it. Remembering that night cut deep.

He caught the sympathetic look Ben was shooting him. He didn't say anything, for which Finn was grateful, but it was clear he knew who was responsible for Finn's new accommodations at the precinct.

Clearing his throat, Finn checked his watch, seeing he only had about half his lunch break left. "Unfortunately, I'm not kidding. But… we were talking about Kylo Ren."

"What can you tell us about him?" Ben asked. "Why's everyone so sure he's not real?"

That was another annoying thing about this whole damn mess.

"It's because there's no evidence."

Rey blinked. "What do you mean there's no evidence? You've seen the video, right? The one where he took a flamethrower to the face and then Falcon-punched the droid straight to hell?"

"You mean the video that gets taken down seconds after anyone posts it?" Finn dug through his paper files, searching for one page in particular. Thick, smudgy blurs covered the photocopy of a photocopy. "Turns out, no one can find any physical evidence of those robots." He found the paper and slid it over to Rey, who snatched it up. He let her read through it, with both Ben and Poe looking over her shoulder. "Whatever they were, wherever they ended up, not a single salvage team can find any trace."

"You're kidding me." Rey said, eyes riveting down the pages and flipping through the report. "Have you checked the ocean? I know he kicked one that way."

"Coastguard registered something blowing past them, but that's it. CSI and the math guys are still having a hard time wrapping their minds around someone casually destroying the laws of physics. Best we figure, those robots either got vaporized or they're enjoying a nice retirement with the cast of Finding Nemo."

Poe whistled. "Damn."

"What about the one he kicked up into the sky?" Rey asked, pursuing a thread Finn had chased down weeks ago. "I know I saw pieces of it fly off."

"You aren't the only one." Finn grabbed another can from his cooler. This one was iced coffee. "Too bad cleanup crews didn't find them. They were more focused on making sure the park didn't go up in flames after one of the gas lines burst in the fight."

Rey sagged, before she perked up. "Wait, there's the third one. The one he crumpled up into a ball and made explode?"

"You sound way too excited about the idea of an explosion," Ben muttered from behind them, eliciting a surprised laugh from Poe. "I feel like I should check under my car every time I get in now."

"You don't even drive to work," she riposted back, with no heat. "If you did, maybe you'd get in on time."

"My desk chair, then. You seem like a take-you-down-with-me kind of woman."

"I'm more partial to hemlock myself. Less messy."

"Noted. Should I-"

Poe snapped his finger, interrupting the fascinating daytime drama. "Not that I don't think either of you could star on  _Days of Our Lives_  and be a fan favorite, but we're kinda' burning my boyfriends' time here. Quit the angry flirting."

The look Ben gave Poe was withering.

"Right, third robot." Rey at least had the decency to look chagrined. Finn noticed the creeping red in her cheeks and resolved to tease her about it later, when the world made sense again. "Any news on that?"

"Funny thing." Finn passed along another report. This was a blurry, printed mess, recovered from a camera's corrupted memory cache. "We did have it here."

Rey slumped in her seat. "But?"

"That's the last known photo proof that it ever existed and was in police custody." He let out a breath in commiseration with her. "Units on the scene secured it, bagged it, tagged it, and pictures of it made the rounds on Twitter and other sites before they all started disappearing the next day."

"You're joking." Rey inspected him closer, before her eyes widened. "You're  _not_  joking?"

"By midnight the next day, after it got transferred into the Feds' custody, all digital traces of the thing was gone. The physical pieces got checked out of evidence. Security footage went missing, too."

Finn let them stew on that.

"This is the last thing we had, and we've been making as many copies as we can, because every bit of evidence is vanishing."

Poe looked over his shoulder at Ben, who shook his head. Finn watched the exchange curiously.

"Someone's going around erasing Kylo Ren," Ben murmured. His eyes were narrowed, intense.

"Isn't that even more proof that he's real, then?" Poe asked at last, brows furrowing. "We all know he's real, we all saw the broadcast and streams, and now all this stuff that could help shed light on him is just going  _poof_?" He spread his arms to the side. "Seems too convenient."

"Lack of proof isn't proof," Rey answered before Finn could. She'd probably already connected the dots.

"But they had the proof! They even have proof it's gone, don't you?" Poe turned back to him. "Don't you guys have to fill out forms whenever a piece of evidence goes missing? To show it existed in the first place?"

"We do. Those are also missing."

Poe sank back down into his chair.

"So, what?" he asked. "Just because every bit of proof is pulling a Houdini, Kylo Ren isn't real? What kind of logic is that?"

"It's not logic," Rey spoke up. All eyes turned to her. "It's fear."

"Right in one." Finn's hoped his expression wasn't as brittle as it felt.

He wanted a hug. Preferably from Poe. And like, a whole marathon weekend of Harry Potter movies to go with it. Maybe a few pizzas.

"They're not talking about it, but everyone way up high's real afraid of Kylo Ren," he admitted.

"That makes no sense!" Poe exclaimed. "Why would they-"

Rey breathed, "Because they're  _terrified_."

"What?" Ben's expression had turned ashen. " _Why?"_

"Think about it," Finn said. "One day, you're going through life as a police officer, thinking everything is normal, working your job. You still get to help people, you still get to look at yourself in the mirror and feel like you're making a difference. Until one day, that doesn't matter.

"It doesn't matter, because one day, freaking  _killer robots_  land in your city and make the T-1000 look like their water boy. And then a guy claiming to be a  _superhero_  jumps in and starts ad-libbing B-Movie fight scenes with those same robots. He survives deadly applications of Newton's third law on a live national broadcast, and then he  _leaves_." The office was feeling more cramped and tight and claustrophobic than it had in weeks. "To top it all off, something is trying to make him disappear and there's not much we can do about it."

He fixed Rey with a warning glare. "Did it ever occur to you who Kylo Ren would answer to, if something happened?"

_Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?_

It was both the nightmare and the answer. Finn trusted the system. He believed in the system. He knew it wasn't perfect - was aware that he was statistically more likely to run afoul of the system than others, but he also knew that it was the best they, as a society, had right now. It was what had pushed him to join and do good, because he knew the best way to change something was little by little.

"I believe Kylo Ren is here to do good," he finished, feeling drained. "I do. But part of me wonders if he's not just cowboying this thing up because he doesn't have to clean up after himself."

Rey met his stare and didn't waver.

"He's not a bad guy," she whispered. "He's a hero."

"I believe that," he said, and he meant it. "But part of the whole reason we work as a society is because we're usually held accountable. We have people we answer to. There's a reason we don't encourage vigilantism."

She sat up straighter. "He's considered a vigilante?"

"Calm down," Finn rubbed at his eyes. He felt tired. So damn tired. He hadn't slept over five hours a night in weeks, and he was feeling it. "So far he's in the clear. He hasn't out and out involved himself in crimes yet, so they can chalk most of it up to a helpful and somewhat destructive citizen."

"But?"

"But it's not looking good. Regardless of whether the evidence keeps disappearing, if bodies start dropping, the brass won't like it. They're still cops. They won't like someone taking the law into his own hands. If he steps out of line even a little more, he'll start something that can't be stopped."

_A little like me that way._  The only difference was, Kylo Ren could just run away faster than most people blinked.

Bitterness bubbled up from below like a second skin. It raked at his insides with talons made of crystallized injustice, but Finn stoutly ignored it. He was used to unfair circumstances.

It must have still shown on his expression because Ben averted his gaze downwards. Poe looked solemn.

"My suggestion?" Finn said, after suppressing most of the roiling curl in his gut. "Keep clear of him. We don't know much about him and we don't know where he came from. We don't even know what he  _is._ "

"He's Corellian." Rey's expression was defiant. "Whatever that means. I think he's an alien."

"That's great, but are you taking that from the conveniently English conversation he had with those things?"

She was quiet for a moment. "What are you saying?"

"Whoever -  _whatever_  - sent those things? They wanted us to understand them."

"Which means what?" Ben's voice was quiet, resigned.

"Which means, I'm thinking that wasn't the last of them. Everyone's going on about Kylo Ren this, Kylo Ren that. I'm a lot more worried about whoever sent those droids."

Poe swallowed audibly. His confidence had wilted from earlier, and Finn dismayed at having been the reason for that.

"He'll stop them." The man glanced over at Ben. "Right?"

_Was that a nod?_  Finn cracked a smile at the sight of Ben's reassuring nod. He could be awkward but he was an incredible friend to Poe, and that earned him Finn's friendship.

Finn changed the subject and sighed for the billionth time. "I wasn't joking when I was talking about that guy getting thrown into a building. Meteorologists are chalking these random bursts of wind around the city to localized cyclones, but next time you see Kylo Ren, tell him to stick to the alleys and backstreets. Fewer people there."

Rey seemed taken aback. "You're not going to tell me I shouldn't see him again?"

"I respect you too much and value my sanity to even think that," Finn groaned. "Kylo Ren's not evil, or even incompetent. I just don't think he realizes what being human's like, or how easily we break." He pointed to the pile of depositions and witness statements, most false, some true. Most included an incidental medical report from someone caught too close. "Just... be careful."

"I'm always careful!" she protested.

Everyone  _other_ than Rey snorted.

"What?" She crossed her arms, looking around at each of them. "What?"

That's when Finn's watch chimed, signaling the end of his lunch break, and his semi-good mood worsened. He reluctantly gestured toward the door.

The three of them got up to leave, and he went around the desk to open the door for them, turning his lunch sign around. He bid Rey goodbye with a hug and shook hands with Ben. When Poe came past him, Finn hesitated.

He remembered the spare key he'd had made, sitting on his kitchen counter, waiting for the rare evening when they had time for a date, so he could suggest Poe finally move in. Finn was sick of the man's only mark on his apartment being a dresser drawer.

Ben halted, muttered something Finn didn't quite catch (it sounded a little like, "Enough of this") and then elbowed Poe. The movement pushed Poe toward him, and Finn caught him, stumbling back as they both backed away from the door.

"We don't need to leave for another ten minutes, and I  _know_  you guys have been too busy to see each other lately. Stop pining and working so hard and spend some time together, yeah?" Ben said from the doorway, missing Rey's amused and warm smile. Then he shut the door. A quiet scuffle against the other side of the door signified him turning the out-to-lunch sign back around and probably adding more time.

After a moment, Finn laughed as he realized the man had offered them a bit of the time they'd been so sorely missing. Poe responded to the sudden turnabout in tone and situation the way he did everything - enthusiastically.

* * *

Her back hit the mattress, and Rose groaned. The day had been a slog, between her official job and running damage control on the side, she'd only seen Rey for a moment once she'd come home. They'd chatted about something unfair that Rey had found out about at the police station earlier that day, but Rose had been listening with half an ear.

Three weeks and still no sign of the Knights. Somewhere there was a chrono ticking down, signalling the end of her cover and self-assigned mission. Outside, the sun was tucking itself down over the horizon, blanketing the city in shadows and dangerous fiery light.

The ceiling above her was plain white - a far cry from the view of the stars she'd grown used to seeing through the viewport in her ship. To its credit, the apartment was warmer, and she was paying a fair rent, not to mention the fact that Rey was easier to live with than a Wookie. It had surprised her to find the apartment's shower drain hadn't clogged with hair once since she'd started living there.

It wasn't home, though.

"Day forty-seven. This is Rose Tico, reporting to-" she sighed, and let the recorder drop to sit on the mattress next to her. "I don't even know who I'm reporting to anymore. Not Snoke. Myself, I guess? Anyway. Earth is… not what I'd expected. Consider this an official request to update our records on Earth culture, because whoever put the data file together is a half-witted nerf-herder. I'm lucky nobody's suspected anything. The guy at the deli did  _not_  appreciate me joking about him being a sandwich nazi, and I have yet to find a Blockbuster Video. AOL doesn't seem to be in use so much as it is a running joke. Basically, technology and culture here is more advanced than I'd been told."

Except for her run-in meeting Rey, her first day at work had been a waking nightmare. It had taken long enough, figuring out how to get a job. Hilariously, she'd thought  _that_  would be the hard part.

Then she'd smacked into a wall of smartphones, smart TVs, wireless everything, and - nightmare of nightmares -  _the internet_. None of it was more advanced than she'd used on her ship, but it was different. It required adjusting to… adjusting to that she didn't have time for.

Rose reached over and snatched one of her pillows - something green and frilly that Rey had shoved into her hands when they'd gone shopping (Rey had been both confused and horrified to find that Rose had nothing much in the way of belongings).

"Thanks to some  _very_  confused people on a site Rey suggested… I want to say… Geddit? Read-it? Whatever. Thanks to them, I've discovered that our data on Earth culture is outdated by about twenty years. Assuming I play this back, make a note to tell Paige that  _Friends_  didn't end after two seasons. There's this thing here they call a  _Nexflix binge_  and when she gets here-"

She stopped. Her mouth was open, and in place of more words came a silent exhale. Last time she'd been about to discuss Paige, she'd clicked off the recorder and cried for an hour.

Rose blinked and began again, resolute.

"Moving on. I believe the Supreme Leader has now gained full control of the Knights. Paige has yet to return any of my comms. I've been trying daily. At this point I'm concerned the Knights are on their way here - now that a droid has scanned Ben, it's a viable concern. I examined the droids' remains and I can't tell what was or was not transmitted. I plan to continue attempting to reach the Knights, but I've heard no word from any of them. Hopefully they'll believe I'm also under Snoke's thrall and fill me in. In the meantime, I'm limiting my interactions with Ben."

That was something she felt guilty about. The man seemed desperate to talk to her, likely because she'd let on to knowing more than a human should have, but Rose couldn't bring herself to explain. The plan had been to come, convince Han to come out of retirement for one last mission to free the Knights from Snoke's control, and then leave.

She hadn't planned on not finding him, getting stuck on earth while searching for him, and then discovering that he'd died and - because Han just  _had_  to throw an arc wrench into things -  _passed on the mantle to his son_.

His very,  _very_  clueless son.

Rose sighed again. "It's not that he doesn't deserve to know," she explained to the little device. "He does, and I'll tell him everything. Eventually."

Probably.

"The issue is that he's human, and he doesn't know what he's about to be involved in. He's inexperienced, and I can't be responsible for getting Han's kid killed. I've been doing what I can to hide his tracks for when the Knights come to Earth - assuming they do - but he's Han's son, through and through. He hasn't had the mantle active for a full moon-cycle on this planet and the entire world's talking about him."

The situation was a disaster, but she was at every site after he left. Hair strands, the stray blurry photo, fingerprints, blogs that got a  _little_  too much right - she cleaned every bit up. As far as the evidence showed, Kylo Ren was nothing more than an urban legend. A rumor made up by the few dozen people who claimed to have been helped by him.

"The idiot - and I say that kindly - is annoyed by my covering up his tracks. Ungrateful nerf-herder. Last I knew, it upset him that people are claiming it's a hoax, but it's not like I can come out and explain why I'm trying to help hide it without explaining Snoke and-"

Something beeped from across the room, and Rose went silent. Slowly, she curled her upper body, sitting up, and she stared at the device. Part of her had never expected it to go off.

It beeped again and Rose leapt off the bed and made it to her dresser in one large, unsteady bound. She grabbed the comm and clicked it, almost crying with relief when she heard the voice.

The voice of the one person she'd gladly die for.

"This is Vara Ren, please respond. Come in-"

Rose's voice, muffled by the hand she held to her mouth in disbelief, was strained. " _Paige?_ You have no idea how glad I am to hear your voice."

There was a moment of silence that had Rose worrying she'd imagined it, but the comm came to life again, giving sound to a robotic, nearly lifeless voice.

"This is Vara Ren."

Her heart plummeted, but she swallowed and replied, "This is Rose Tico, reporting in. Do you have a mission update for me?"

Maybe it was her hopeful imagination, but her sister's voice seemed to warm by the smallest degree. "Affirmative. Confirm current location, please."

She stilled.

When she'd escaped, Snoke hadn't seemed to care - he wanted the mantles of power, not the Knight's glorified tech support and babysitter. The Knights themselves hadn't known where she'd flown off to, and there was a chance they didn't realize she'd gone rogue.

Rose weighed her options and winced as she lied. "Orbiting Hoth on a recon mission per the Supreme Leader's orders."

There was another pause. She held her breath.

"You've been reassigned. The Supreme Leader has ordered us to travel to planet C-53. Kylo Ren has been found active. Our mission is to recover the mantle and return to the Supreme Leader with the human."

Kriff.

Kriff, kriff,  _kriff-_

"C-53, right," Rose muttered. "On my way." She paced in front of her dresser and let out a nervous laugh. "Just so I make sure I get there on time, how soon do you think you'll arrive?"

"Per Bocid Ren, we will enter the atmosphere in three hours."

Rose dropped the comm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	8. Unsteady

With their potential lead at the precinct turning out to be a bust, the three of them headed back to the office to regroup and plan their next approach. Just as they got into the lobby of the building Poe got notice to head out on another job, leaving her and Ben to wave awkwardly at him as they entered the elevator and headed up to their floor.

They spent most of the ride up in silence, with Ben shooting her speculative and furtive glances every few seconds. Rey was trying not to fester too hard on what was happening to Finn to think much of her partner's odd behavior.

Finally, he broached the silence. "So, a cop, huh?"

Rey sagged. Ah, that. "Yeah."

"That why you're such a do-gooder?"

"It's why I don't like people getting away with things," she corrected. "You know that annoying kid who always tattled to the teacher? That was me."

"Really." He seemed unsurprised by this. In the corner of her eyes she thought she saw him smile. "What changed?"

He couldn't know the torrential roil going on under her skin, so she kept her tone plaintive and empty as she explained, "I learned that the law doesn't always win."

She was relieved when he kept quiet for the rest of the elevator trip.

The  _Prime Gazette_ had reached that listless period between mid-afternoon and the end-of-day rush as people either revved up on their second cup of coffee or started feeling the after-effects of skipping lunch. The staff walking around the office didn't so much as bustle as they did lurch. They'd had a recent boom with Rey being the first on-scene during the Kylo Ren debut, but with how much inertia they were running into now everyone was pushing themselves to keep up the momentum.

Holdo was right - the Kylo Ren story was important, in more ways than one.

Rey zeroed in on her chair and collapsed in it, closing her eyes. Talking to Finn had been exhausting, not because she didn't like him, but hearing from him how things had been happening on the official side had confirmed some private fears she'd been harboring about the whole mess around Kylo Ren. Most government bodies didn't like rogue agents, let alone one as powerful as Kylo Ren, good intentions or no.

She stayed like that, drawing mental dots and lines across facts and people.

Kylo Ren, who appeared from nowhere, right when the city needed him most.

The group that sent the droids in hunt of  _something_. She remembered them say something about  _mantle energy signature detected_ , but she wasn't sure what that meant.

After a moment's deliberation, she added another group.

The third group who was erasing all traces of Ren from the police and government systems.

Kylo Ren was about as subtle as a train wreck, so it couldn't be him, and what Finn had said tracked - whoever had sent the droids  _wanted_  to be known. It wouldn't make any sense for them to cover things up.

Something aromatic and delicious was placed on her desk with an attention-grabbing  _thunk!_ and Rey opened her eyes to a heavenly sight. A triple shot espresso twenty ounce macchiato. She recognized it because the top was overflowing with whipped cream, something she added whenever she was stressed.

"Coffee for your thoughts," Ben said, holding out the divine concoction. He held another cup in his hands.

"If that's what I think it is, you can have my firstborn." She accepted the proffered drink and downed about a third of it in one massive gulp. The heat scalded her tongue, but Rey focused instead on the sweetness of the sugar and the smooth taste of the cream. When she came up for air she gasped out, "Thanks. How'd you know I needed that?"

"You're not subtle," he replied, in a tone of mild rebuke. "If you'd opened your eyes earlier, you would have set the office on fire."

"Eh. Cyclops was never my favorite. I've always been more of a Rogue girl, when it comes to the X-Men." She grinned at him and nursed her coffee, brushing her thumb along the surface of her cup. "What about you?"

He gave her a wary look. "What about me?"

"Who's your favorite superhero?"

She eyed him as he sat down in his desk opposite her, and took conservative sips of his own cup like a tiny bird instead of the six foot plus giant human he was. It was a few seconds before he shrugged. "Don't have one."

"Really." She eyed him, doubtful. "Not even one? What about the classics, like Superman and Batman? I know every boy in my grade school wanted to wear their underwear on the outside every Halloween just to be a little more like Supes."

"Can't say I ever thought much of either of them." His eyes glazed over, and took on a far off look.

"Okay, so DC's not for you. What about Marvel?" Rey sat up, now curious about this little mystery. "Spiderman? Captain Marvel? All Might?"

"I have no clue who they are." There was a quirk of amusement to his lips that took Rey a moment to wrench her eyes away from. "Beyond that you have a series of alternating wallpapers on your desktop of various people in tights doing superhero things." He fixed her with a piercing gaze. "You going to add Kylo Ren to that list, too?"

He was teasing her, but Rey had long since learned not to be put off by people who saw her fascination with heroes as something juvenile.

"I absolutely will, as soon as I get a good picture of him. I mean, have you  _seen_ him? The guy is like Adonis come to life."

That seemed to knock him off balance. He jerked and spilled some coffee down his shirt, and the white of the fabric became translucent.

Rey's heart did a little hop and skip.

He was dangerous to her composure in more ways than one, and she didn't know if she would survive this partnership with him. Especially if he kept wearing such thin shirts.

"So you're uh," he coughed awkwardly, and then seemed to realize that he'd spilled coffee on himself. He grabbed a paper towel and dabbed on his shirt. He didn't meet her eyes for the entire process, which was just as good, because Rey was sure they'd become stuck in position, permanently fixed on him. "So, you think Kylo Ren is... worthy? Of going on your wallpaper, I mean."

It sounded like he was fishing for information. For a journalist, he was terrible at being subtle.

"Well, he's not picking up Mjolnir anytime soon. But honestly? Yeah. I'm not the best judge, and my standards are a little skewed, but," she bit her lip, "he's good. I don't know how - I can't really explain it, but I do. People like to complicate things by asking how who he answers to and what his motivations are, but the thing is… he doesn't  _have_  to be a hero."

"Having his powers probably makes it easier." Ben's tone was sardonic, so she didn't think he was being obtuse on purpose, but she couldn't help but be irritated.

"It's not the powers," she snapped. "You don't  _need_  powers to be a hero. You just need to stand up and do what's right."

He quieted after that, and Rey busied herself by checking her messages, but there was nothing notable beyond a few new theories popping up on the forums she'd subscribed to. After skimming through the contents of those theories - the one about him having a split personality was intriguing but didn't line up with Rey's personal observations - she tallied down their investigation findings in her notebook.

She'd just finished drawing circles around her abbreviations for the three involved parties with a separate page for what she was denoting as the  _Earthly_ entities, when a hand holding a hastily scribbled post-it note intruded in her field of view.

"What's this?" she asked, looking from the note to Ben.

He looked away and muttered something she didn't quite catch before he pointed at the three lines he'd written. "You know what these are?"

She scanned the note before her eyes widened. "These are cleanup and construction companies. I recognize this group right here,  _Allen's Cleaners_. They're a subdivision of one of the construction companies around here. I think they usually deal with the small-scale stuff when the HPD calls them in, but they subcontract out to get bigger stuff done. Are these…?"

"I don't know," Ben conceded, shaking his head. "But while we were in the waiting area of the police station, I caught a glance at a few papers one of the officers left out on their desk."

"How'd you even catch that?" she asked, a little impressed despite herself. "You must have been what, fifteen, twenty feet away? How'd you not get caught? I'm surprised you could make out anything, let alone three company names."

He shrugged and looked away, not meeting her eyes, and said, in a surprisingly humble tone, "Good eyesight, I guess."

It was that thing again. That thing where he was hiding something, but was hoping no one would ask him about it. She was tempted to poke holes in his theory, but he'd clearly been reluctant to share this with her.

She took a moment to realize that he was taking the partnership situation seriously, and she decided she wouldn't press the issue.

Ben visibly relaxed when she turned her attention back to her computer.

Launching her browser, Rey ran some searches on the clean-up companies.

"What are you doing?" he asked, coming around to stand behind her. She could hear the frown in his voice as she opened a Facebook page. "Shouldn't we be heading out to these places and getting interviews?"

"We could," Rey admitted. "But if I'm right, this is a lead on the missing evidence."

She wrote three phone numbers in her notebook, triple-checking them against her screen. Her mind was a whirl. It was a gamble, but one where she had nothing to lose.

"What makes you say that?"

Rey chewed her lip. It wouldn't hurt to talk out her logic, in case there was a speed bump she couldn't spot. "Every single cleanup crew in the city has been working overtime to handle the disaster of a park where the droid fight had taken place."

"Yeah, I know. Traffic's been rerouted around the entire city because of it." Ben looked around, as if checking for eavesdropping interlopers.

"Right, but only a few of those clean-up crews are on retainer with the police department," Rey explained, "Non-essential and non-reusable material gets sent outside the city where it gets thrown in these massive pits for proper sorting and disposal."

"What are you getting at? So what if a bunch of debris gets thrown away? CSI's already gone over it for any actual clues by then."

How this man became Holdo's star reporter, Rey had no clue. Still, it wasn't often she got to lord one over Ben Solo, so she enjoyed the moment.

"You forget about our mysterious vanisher," Rey said. "You know, the one disappearing all the evidence?"

"Why can't it be the whoever who sent the droids in the first place?" He swallowed and stuttered when he added, "O-or Kylo Ren? Couldn't he be doing that, too? Cleaning up after himself?"

Rey laughed as she clicked through  _Allen's Cleaners_  company website, searching for their notable staff. "Kylo Ren's about as subtle as a rampaging rhinoceros. Honestly, the guy's such a disaster, he'd set the entire evidence room on fire if he tried to sneak anything out." She couldn't resist supplying a fun bit of trivia. "I'm pretty sure he wanted to kiss me when I last saw him. Like I said, he's not subtle."

Ben let out a strangled noise in the back of his throat. "Did he now?"

She hummed. It was easier to remain in control of herself when he wasn't in her line of sight, being a distraction. "Can't say I wasn't curious myself."

Something grabbed the back of her chair and she heard a creak. She suppressed the ghost of a smile that threatened to escape her.

After a few seconds where her chair protested Ben's grip rather noisily, he asked, in a much more level tone, "So, why don't you think it's the people who sent those droids in the first place? Why wouldn't they try to clean up the evidence?"

She shook her head. "It's like Finn said, whoever it was wanted an audience. Why get everyone's attention and then ghost and try to cover it up? It doesn't make any sense." She focused in on a final set of names on the screen. "No, someone else is going around, cleaning stuff up. And we're going to find them."

"How?"

"By doing something you're a little unfamiliar with," she teased. " _Socializing."_

She could tell he'd turned indignant as she heard him sputter and protest.

"Hush now," she interrupted. "I gotta' do some work."

" _You-"_

A sudden raised hand was all it took to silence him.

She wrote down a couple names she'd seen on the company's website and grabbed her cell phone, dialing the first set of numbers. She hated calling out from her personal cell, but her desk phone would show up on a caller ID and that would ruin the whole plan.

" _Reaver's Spick and Span Salvagers,_ " greeted a tired voice on the other end of the line after it rung twice. "How can I direct your call?"

Rey smiled wide and bright, hoping to inject some of that annoying youthful optimism she knew these call forwarders just  _loved_. "Hi! This is Katie from waste and disposal at MCU? Is this Sandra G.? Could you let Sammy Nelson know we're still waiting on when to deliver the latest shipment from-" she checked her notes, "-the  _Forest Apartments_  fire last week?"

"Mister Nelson isn't in now," cut in the other voice. They sounded annoyed. Good. "I can leave a message."

Rey switched her tone of voice, moving to something older and more gruff. "Hi, yeah, this is Katie's supervisor. Can you let me know when Sam's going to be in? Or when we can drop the next shipment? I've got trucks I need to use filled to the brim with debris"

There was an annoyed sigh, and Rey heard them mutter something distasteful under their breath before the crisp and crackle of the receiver was brought back to their mouth, and they said, "Give me a second."

Her anticipation and worry mounted while she waiting for the person on the other end to realize the total load of bull she'd just pulled. She just hoped they wouldn't think too much of the names and places she'd used.

After a full minute of bated breath, the woman replied.

"Eight thirty tonight," Sandra gruffed.

Rey made a noise of grudging disapproval. "Well, can't say that's good, but thank you."

Sandra didn't even bother to exchange goodbyes. The sudden dial tone told Rey she'd just been hung up on, but that was fine, because she couldn't stop from shouting in victory, jumping up in her chair, hands raised.

"Huh," Ben said, directly behind her. She'd forgotten about him.

Rey spun around, another apology on her lips, and then she stopped.

In the course of their conversation and her phone call, Ben had gotten  _very_  close to her. She had to crane her neck to look up at him properly, and she could see the faint outline of his chest where the coffee stain stuck to him earlier.

His eyes were wide and dark, looking down at her with the kind of wonder that would fuel her mind with ideas for weeks. His lips parted in awe, hair askew just  _so..._

She cleared her throat and her victory smile became more subdued, more affectionate. "How's that?" she said, inclining her head back to the notebook. "Time and place."

Ben's dark eyes glittered with something like fierce pride and approval, and she decided those were eyes were some of the best things about working across from him. Intelligent, scary eyes. Ones that roved over her entire expression, taking her in, and filing the information later for some unknown reason.

"Time and place," he repeated. His lips pulled back into a knowing, feline smile. "And now, we just need the who."

"Our mystery vanisher's been scrubbing  _everything_  clean. Even stuff that CSI's gone over."

"And you think that's when they'll strike," Ben concluded her reasoning. "In transit?"

"It  _is_  when it's least secure."

"What happens if nothing pans out?"

She shrugged. "Then we find a new lead. But I figure we could use that good eyesight of yours for  _something_. How do you feel about a stakeout tonight?" She mustered up confidence from where it was riling up in her belly and smiled at him. "Pick me up at seven?"

* * *

The doorman let Ben in with a crusty, Jurassic-aged glare. He was dressed in slacks and a black and crimson line checkered button-up, with a small duffel bag for another spare hoodie.

(Poe had teased him mercilessly about how long it had taken to pick out his outfit.)

As he ascended the stairs, Ben got the impression he was being labeled as something in the ballpark of a whippersnapper or  _hooligan_ , which he took as a badge of honor. He'd never been too much of a troublemaker to be called anything more than  _excitable._

Well, except when his dad had been around. His mom would often come home from her charity work on days to find that Ben and his father had made a mess of the house, whether in imaginary battles against the invading Zabraks of Iridonia, or in faux confrontations with the various Hutt sects of the galaxy.

Ben paused, his hand on the balustrade railing.

He knew his dad hadn't been human, but near as he could glean from his memories, the Knights of Ren were a stand-in for the various political factions of the galaxy, not a Power Ranger team of do-gooders who stuck their noses in where they weren't invited.

Some would say that was the essence of being a hero.

He sighed and glanced down the hall he was passing by. Throbs and flickers of emotions pinged and burned on the edge of his senses: families eating dinner, a couple having a movie night, some roommates getting into an argument. It was a tiny little microcosm of Hosnia encapsulated and divided into rooms and organized, like a museum.

Involving himself in the investigation was just asking for trouble. By all rights, he shouldn't even have given Rey that lead he'd spotted earlier. Dry up all the leads.

He'd spotted those company names on a form sticking out of a filing cabinet over a hundred feet away. It was the only thing he'd caught, and he should have followed up on it himself, but he couldn't stand the idea of hogging the investigation. Not while partnered to Rey.

He remembered the conversation they'd had in the pizza parlor, a lifetime and a robot fight ago.

He didn't  _want_  to be like that anymore. Untouchable.

Rey lived on the fifth floor, in a nice building that had been preserved for historical purposes. As he reached the landing, he remembered the light in her eyes as she followed and conjured up their latest lead from nothing but a set of names that meant absolute gibberish to him.

How was it that combining his already complicated life story with his moonlighting as Kylo Ren was a good idea? He felt like he was tempting fate, just by being there.

As he passed the ascending door numbers, something else manifested. It started as an itch, a passing annoyance, but as Ben passed by every door, the itch turned into a prickle of goosebumps, into a wary watched feeling, and it was  _then_  that Ben noticed it.

The jagged, electrifying sensation of panic brushing against his mental shield. It wasn't rotten, or acrid, like normal human panic. No, this was pulsing, and it felt like the readiness, the anticipation between thunder and a lightning strike. Energetic. Inhuman.

On a hunch, Ben sniffed, drawing in all the surrounding scents. Cigarettes, old wood, dust, burnt steak from somewhere a floor below. And there, hidden beneath it all, the smell of grease and ozone. A smell he'd only associated with one person.

 _Rose Tico_.

He looked around, noted where it was coming from and jogged down the hall, in the direction of the scent. If she was here, then that could mean Rey was in-

He reached the door in question, grabbed the handle, and the next thing he knew his entire arm seized up,  _pain_  lancing up his forearm, up his veins, and right up into his face. Ben felt his cheek twitch in a jerky rictus and his vision blurred. A force like a giant magnet pushed against him and he flew back.

He hit the wall and his breath escaped him, more out of surprise than damage. His legs felt weak and shaky, but he managed to support himself.

The door opened just a smidge. Rose's face peaked out from the opening.

"Oh good, it's you," she said. She opened the door, and Ben saw that she was holding something that looked like a television remote in one hand. "Come in, we don't have much time."

He couldn't feel his teeth.  _Why_  couldn't he feel his teeth?

His leg locked up when he tried to take a step forward. Stumbling, he nearly face-planted into the floor, and would have, if Rose didn't move to catch him.

"Easy, easy," she coaxed him, holding him up easily despite their own massive size difference. "You just got hit with about ten Merr-Sonn magnomine blasts. It should only take a Knight a couple of minutes to get over the effects, but don't rush it."

A  _what_?

"Rose?" called Rey, from inside the apartment. "Who is it?"

"It's just Ben!" Rose answered, sounding very human and nothing like the secret alien assassin Ben was now eighty percent sure she was. The other twenty percent was still trying to catch up to thirty seconds ago. "He showed up early!"

She lugged him across the threshold of the apartment, fiddling with her remote and pressing buttons at a speed he was sure would induce carpal tunnel for most humans.

"Ask him to wait in the living room." Rey's voice rang out.

Rose led him through the apartment, his mind noting all the little spots and touches that were undoubtedly Rey's - the collection of superhero mugs in the sink, the pile of rival newspapers on the coffee stand, the neat and tidy order of a bookcase.

Rose's things were very apparent here, too. A small circuit board was on the dinner table, along with a plethora of tech that looked straight out of an Escher painting. A tablet and what looked to be a helmet in the corner.

Ben sat down on their couch, his mind taking the thing he should have realized weeks earlier.

"You're roommates."

Rose grabbed a pad and tapped something on it. Non-English script zipped down from the right at an angle, along with pictures and something he was sure were miniaturized holograms one inch off the surface of the tablet. "We are."

"This… isn't a recent thing."

"Going on about three weeks now. Speaking of, my rent's due next week," she mentioned offhandedly, and then grimaced. "If we even make it to next week."

Ben stared at his open palms. Only one of his fingers was twitching anymore.

That was when he realized that a lot of his problems could have been solved if he'd just  _asked_  someone about her. Rose had to have a legal address to work in the office.

"You've been hiding from me," he said instead, because nothing covered up an embarrassing mistake better than accusing someone else of something.

Rose shot him a look like she wondered if he was still being affected by that whatever it was.

"You've been causing quite a mess," she said instead. He could tell it was the nicer of the things she'd planned on saying because he could almost feel her internal amusement puffing against his lungs. "Do you know how hard it is to keep your activities under wraps? I've been trying to isolate them or just get rid of your markers altogether, but you're just like your dad. Can't stand not making a show of it whenever you get involved."

Ben's growl was nearly subsonic before he realized that wasn't rebuke he was hearing.

It was fondness.

"He used to say the best way to raise hope is to  _be_  hope," Rose murmured, lost in thought. "That when the world goes quiet, the best thing to do is to grab the closest explosive and raise hell. When the light goes dark, you needed to light the fire yourself."

She wiped the back of her hand against her forehead. She was sweating, fingers trembling. That panic from before was fluttering up again, and he saw that instead of the devious look of triumph he'd been expecting it was scared and nervous.

"What's happening?"

She looked at him, and he noticed another thing about her. Her eyes were old. Like the treated and weathered spine of a book, her eyes were older than her appearance let on.

"You're sticking close to her, right? All night?"

He looked her up and down, feeling like he'd just taken a sideway step into another dimension. Just who  _was_  Rose?

"Of course. We're going on a stakeout."

She canted her head and then disregarded him. "My sister's coming here in two-and-a-half hours," she announced.

His brain skidded around the bend of this new stretch of irreverence. "Sister?"

And that's when Rey came out of the bedroom. She wore a muted dark grey hoodie of her own, jeans, her hair done up in a ponytail, and she carried an empty Batman-themed backpack.

She stopped seeing the scene she was walking in on. One hand held a baseball cap she'd been sliding her hair under.

"What's up?" she said, looking around the living room, probably noting the series of weird tech and at-first-glance garbage littering various surfaces. She caught sight of Ben and frowned. "Uh, why do you look like that?"

Ben looked down at himself. "What's wrong with how I look?"

"You look like you're going out to dinner at a place where they don't put the prices on the menu," Rey said. She covered her mouth with her hand and giggled. "Oh god, have you never been on a stakeout?"

"Uhhh…"

He had superpowers - he didn't need stakeouts.

Well aware that his inner ten-year-old was pouting, Ben looked to Rose, who'd turned to grab stuff from a cabinet. He saw black and silver pieces of cloth and what seemed to be rippling material, but she turned and blocked his sight.

"Hey Rose, another late night?" Rey asked.

"Not exactly," she replied. She sounded airy, distracted, and it was only Ben's empathic senses that stopped him from falling for her act. She seemed calm, but on the inside she was freaking out. "I meant to ask, where are you going? You're heading out together, right?"

"Me and this lug are heading out on a 'date'," Rey said, using air quotes. "Gonna' spy on a lead for our latest assignment. Kylo Ren."

Rose's head whipped around to stare at her, before a bell like-laugh escaped her. "Of course you are. Ben Solo is helping you investigate Kylo Ren. Of 's great." Rose fixed him with a pointed glare. She asked again, "You'll stay by her side all night?"

The woman was five foot two. She shouldn't have been so intimidating.

"I'll keep her safe," Ben vowed. "I promise."

Rose's shoulders sagged, and she nodded.

"We're journalists, Rose," Rey said, shaking her head. She turned and headed into the kitchen. "It's part of the job. Besides, it won't get too dangerous."

"Whatever you say," Rose said obliquely. "Say, uh, how do you feel about Antarctica this time of year?"

"Is that a joke?" Rey poked her head out of the kitchen. "God, you're so weird. I love you, Rose, but you're a major dork."

Rose laughed alongside her, but it sounded brittle.

"Go with her," she said, through clenched teeth. "Stay close to her. Lie low. Don't do anything stupid, even if you see something happen."

Ben looked at her askance. "You can't ask that of me if you know who I am."

Rey emerged from the kitchen, with a backpack filled to burst, probably with junk food and snacks. "Hey fancy pants, you ready to go?"

Ben looked between her and Rose, who'd turned her attention back to the strange fabric on the table. She didn't regard him or his pointed stare at all.

"Sure thing," he said slowly, feeling out of his depth.

As they exited the apartment, he resolved to enjoy the night and put Rose's ramblings to the back of his mind.

* * *

The first ten minutes of the stakeout was mostly her teasing Ben about never having been on a stakeout - the man hadn't even thought to bring snacks. Thankfully she'd brought a stash of delicious sugary and salt-laden junk food. He cringed a little at the sight before sighing and diving in.

Twenty minutes of awkward silence, snacking, and no action later, Rey decided she was bored enough to… chat.

"You, in the car, with a…" Rey glanced around his clinically clean car and frowned. "Huh. I'm not sure there's anything in here we could use as a weapon."

"I wouldn't kill you in my car. Too messy."

"Ah, yes. Murder, no big deal, but a blood stain on the upholstery is a crime against humanity."

Ben rolled his eyes. "Something like that."

She snorted, and neither of them spoke. It was dark, at least a couple hours past sunset, and she could barely see him in the dim glow of a distant streetlight. Maybe she should have been disappointed by the lack of action going on at the site in front of them, and not a month or two earlier she'd have dreaded being stuck in a car with Ben Solo… but this wasn't as bad as she'd expected.

"This game again, then?" He cleared his throat. "Okay. You, wherever. Just you." With a murmur, he added, "You don't need a weapon to be the death of me."

"What, am I using my bare hands?" Rey laughed. "Have you even played Clue? That's not an option."

When he muttered something intelligible, she turned to look at him in the dim light. He was looking straight ahead. And…

Was he blushing?

Rey blinked and replayed the words in her head.

"Are- are you flirting with me?" The words came out more accusatory than she'd met them, and she winced, and backpedaled. "I just mean- Not that I'd have a problem with… Uh, not that I want you to- er- uh. Well, you're obviously very attra-"

She bit her lips closed before she could say the word. Her cheeks were hot, likely far more red than a bold blush would ever get them and now he was looking over at her with a hint of a smirk and a quirked eyebrow.

"Uh, nothing. Never mind."

Ben gestured for her to continue. "No, no, go on. This is great. I didn't expect a stakeout to be fun, but you're making my year." His smirk grew into a wide grin as he waited for her.

"You're the worst."

"Mm, I don't know," he teased. "Sounds like you don't think I'm the worst."

Rey folded her arms over her chest, focusing her eyes directly on the building they'd been watching. It had nothing to do with not being able to meet his amused gaze. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't."

"I don't."

He laughed, and she saw him nod out of the corner of her vision. "I've got a feeling you know exactly what I'm trying to say."

"Well," Rey huffed, turning in her seat to face him. "As a reporter, you should know that a feeling isn't evidence."

Ben seemed to ponder her words for a moment before replying with a mysterious smile. "Sometimes a feeling is all we humans have to go on."

"Did you just quote Star Trek at me?" she deadpanned.

"Huh. Did you just recognize an obscure Star Trek quote?"

Rey narrowed her eyes at him, and begrudgingly admitted, "It's possible. Is it so terrible that I'm a closeted Trekkie?"

"Trekkie, or Trekker?"

"Please tell me you aren't one of those people who has an opinion on what we should call ourselves," she groaned. "I'm a fan, okay? Star Trek and superheroes, so go ahead and call me a nerd now. Or, geek. Whatever."

When he didn't respond right away, Rey chanced a glance over at him and noticed curiously that he was staring at her, almost as though he was dumbstruck.

"I had USS Enterprise sheets," he blurted out.

"Oh. That's… nice. I'm sure women love that."

Exactly how had she gotten herself into flirting with and discussing the bedsheets of her coworker? How on earth had this happened?

Ben groaned. "I said had. As in, when I was a kid. I'm a huge fan."

"Yeah, I'll bet you are," she muttered, under her breath. It didn't come as a shock.

"Excuse me?"

After a moment, Rey caught the possible interpretation of her words and choked, then rushed to explain, "Gods I didn't mean it like that, obviously. I- I just meant I'm not surprised to hear that you're a nerd."

Ben was wearing a shit-eating grin when she looked over at him.

"Sorry," he laughed. "I've never seen you this flustered. It's cute."

_Cute?_

Alarm bells rang in her mind, and she rushed to change the subject.

"So, uh. You recovered quickly. From- uh, from the droid attack, I mean," she stammered. It was a wonder she'd gotten a full sentence out with her eyes locked on his smile.

She looked away, stationing her eyes on the building in front of them. "I'm sorry I left you at Maz's to get the scoop on the story, but you were a mess, I figured the EMTs didn't need me in their way. I'm surprised you recovered so easily. I thought for sure you'd had a concussion."

"Fast healer." He shifted in his seat. "And… thanks. I wish you'd stuck around, though."

Rey frowned. "The EMTs handled things well. It's not like I would have been much help."

"You would have been safer." Her skin prickled with a twinge of annoyance as he continued. "I know you wanted the story, but _Rey,_ a story isn't worth-"

"I can handle myself," she interrupted. Before she snapped at him again, his hand landed on hers, over the center console, and she went quiet, probably out of surprise.

Had he ever touched her before? Was there a reason she hadn't recoiled?

His hand was warm over hers, barely squeezing, and he said softly, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I'm sure you can handle yourself. I was just worried about you."

"Oh."

Rey swallowed and chanced a look over at him. He was staring down at their hands, and she sucked in a quiet breath as he caressed the side of her hand with his thumb.

"Hey, is that Kylo Ren?" she blurted out, using it as an excuse to yank her hand away and point out the windshield, at nothing. "I saw him!"

From beside her, Ben hummed. "I don't think that's him." He let out a little laugh, seeing straight through her flimsy excuse for a distraction. "So… Kylo Ren?" One of his eyebrows quirked, and he crossed his arms back over his chest. "What's the deal there? You mentioned something about him almost kissing you?"

Her flush returned, warming her cheeks at his curious tone.

"I might have mentioned that."

When he didn't reply, she looked over, and saw his grin.

"So, it is the superhero thing, or is it… how'd you put it earlier? He's Adonis-like?"

"Shut up, I did not."

He burst out laughing. "You did. I'm a reporter, I remember quotes, and you called him Adonis-"

"Okay, you know what," Rey interrupted. He stopped, waiting for her to continue, but she didn't have a response. Lamely, she sighed, and rolled her eyes. "I'm hungry, and you ate my stash of junk food."

He looked a little ashamed. "I think there's a decent takeout place around the corner," he offered. "You stay here, I'll get food?" With a hint of a grin, he explained, "It's the least I can do for all the teasing."

Rey hesitated, mulling it over, and then her stomach growled and decided for her. "Sure, why not? I love their dumplings."

* * *

Ben couldn't keep the smile off his face, even as he walked away from the car. He'd expected her to get annoyed at his teasing, not to have her stumbling over her words and blushing, and the unexpected reaction had him curious.

It was abundantly clear that she had a crush on his alter-ego.

He stashed that information away for later, and crossed the empty street, heading for a tiny, mostly undiscovered takeout place Poe had introduced him to years earlier. He'd only ever gotten delivery from them, and half the time their food arrived so quickly Ben wondered if their delivery guy also somehow had superspeed.

When he turned the corner, he stopped short.

There was something tugging at his chest, like a hook anchored deep behind his sternum, attached to an invisible line that pulled at him. It was gentle at first, like a mild suggestion. A sort of this way is nice. Try this way.

Ben lost track of how long he stood there, trying to process what was going on, but it only increased. It demanded - it pulled like someone was on the other end of a tug of war, and he was part of the rope.

It was inexplicable, and crazy.

He followed it anyway. Followed it, and chased it down, speeding clear past the takeout restaurant, another two blocks, hooking a right.

Ben was hurtling straight toward it, and each footfall strengthened the feeling of rightness as he approached whatever had a hold on him.

Block after block, and he came to a screeching halt at the edge of the park he'd battled the droids in. The pull was replaced by the wind being knocked from his lungs, purely due to shock.

"No way," he breathed. "That- that-"

The ship was imprinted into his brain with how often his father had described it, often in so much detail that Ben grew up being able to picture what it'd look like. He'd drawn it dozens of times, and each time his father would grin, and nod, mentioning a little detail here or there-

_A little bigger on the cockpit, kid, but you've almost got it!_

Eventually, he'd perfected his drawing of it, so much so that he would have recognized it anywhere.

"Holy shit," he whispered.

"Thank the maker you're already here," a familiar voice behind him sighed. Normally he might have spun around and asked what she was doing there, but he couldn't take his eyes off the view in front of him.

"Rose...did I hit my head too hard, or is that the _Millennium Falcon?"_

She came up next to him and hesitated.

The ship's boarding ramp lowered with a hiss, letting a shadowy figure exit and begin the walk toward them. The line he'd been following snapped tight, and suddenly he knew this was who he'd been pulled toward.

Then Rose murmured something he never would have predicted.

"Yeah, and that... that's my sister."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're on Twitter!
> 
> [ Attack's Twitter](https://twitter.com/AttackotDC)  
> [ Onfire's Twitter](https://twitter.com/thebuildingsno1)


	9. Radioactive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay - with the holiday on Monday we lost track of the days a bit.
> 
> Upped the rating mostly for violence in this and future chapters, language, and... other reasons. :)

The wind hissed through the park, filtered through the gaps between buildings, stirring against Ben's hair like some long-forgotten family member happy to see him again. Despite being in the middle of the city, the park was dark, with a sliver of light from the waning moon slitting through the cloudy night.

Propulsors straight out of a dream glowed, emitting ethereal and almost physical light as the ship glowed in the pitch like a nightlight.

"Your sister?" That hooking sensation through his chest had disappeared. Whatever it was, a strange exultation now took its place, and it felt almost like he was coming home after a long trip. "What do you mean your  _sister?_ That- that's-"

Whatever he was going to say was cut off as Rose grabbed the back of his shirt.

"We need to hide," she hissed, yanking him into an abandoned storefront with boarded windows. "She hasn't seen you yet. We might still have a chance."

"A chance to  _what?"_

Her response was plain, stern, and chilling.

"Survive."

They pulled into the large space of what had been a grocery store before its disuse. All the lights were off since the blocks surrounding the park had had their power cut to prevent any electrical fires in the rebuilding, but Ben's eyes adjusted with unnatural ease. Rose didn't bother saying anything, instead opting for pressing herself against the boarded window, peeking out through wooden slats.

After a moment's pause, he slid up next to her, looking out through the gaps at where the impossible spaceship still stood, defying all expectations.

The figure descending the boarding ramp was holding up her arm, a holographic screen very similar to what Rose had been fiddling with back in her apartment splayed out, illuminating her visage in cold wintry light.

The homesick feeling in his chest lurched and Ben flinched. It felt like he'd just gotten slapped.

"What's wrong with her?" he asked, suppressing the instinctive shiver.

Rose's panic was still there, hidden beneath her resolute stance and the sober line of her face, but he could tell there was something else. Worry.

She was worried about her sister.

"I don't know," Rose answered. She raised a fist, which had some bizarre futuristic armband mounted atop it. "I still don't know what he's done to them."

"What  _who's_ done to them?"

He was getting sick of the secrets. The press of her emotions, foreign and all the more terrifying for their unknown origin was pressing in on him, making him launch a salvo of questions. "Who even are you? How do you know this stuff? What is the Millenium Falcon doing here?"

Ben paused and let out a nervous huff of humorless laughter. "No, nevermind what it's doing here. It's  _real?_ The Millenium Falcon is  _real?_  What happened to  _long time ago_  and  _far, far_   _away?"_

Rose laughed lightly. She didn't even chide him for his volume.

"I messed up," she admitted. "I didn't think you were ready, but I still should have told you. Better late than never, I guess." She glanced at him, and Ben realized that she was wearing a different outfit. Filmy black material, covered in silver highways of light, adorned with pockets and containers. She was buzzing and whirring more than a tech exposition. "I'm Rose Tico. I know about your father and all of this stuff because a few hundred years ago my sister saved our lives when the mantle of Vara Ren sought her out in the mines of Hays Minor."

_Vara Ren?_

Ben felt his mouth go dry.

Rose continued, unaware of the sudden shift in his worldview. "The Falcon's here because the four active Knights of Ren are looking for you." Her eyes hardened as she squinted, lining up her fist with the ship outside. There was a microscopic whizzing sound emitting from her forearm.

"Wait!" He grabbed her wrist. "If she's with the Knights, why don't we just talk to her? Why are we running from them? Aren't they the good guys?"

"There's a lot you've missed out on, and I'm sorry you ever had to become involved in this. I tried to keep you out of it, but..." she shook her head. "But the Supreme Leader wants you - he wants the mantle of Kylo Ren, and he won't stop at anything to have it."

Her expression turned apologetic for a moment before he felt her resolve. As impossible as it all was, she was telling the truth… at least judging by the panicked earnestness glowing off her like radiation.

"Now excuse me for a second," Rose said, switching gears. "I need to up our chances of living through this."

And then she pressed a button on the underside of her forearm, and things went to hell.

A tinny metallic sound filled his ears, and he felt something tug at his pocket. He drew out his new smartphone to see its screen flickering before fizzing and dying with a high-pitched squealing pop. The tinny noise turned into grinding, and he looked back, seeing the metal cans still on the shelves of the grocery store fly off, away from them. The shelving groaned, latched in place to structures pinned to the ground, bending and warping like super-heated slag, inching away from the windows.

Outside the store, it was even worse.

Streetlamps and signs contoured away from the park, like steel flower petals making way for artificial bloom. Benches that had been stacked against buildings were thrown aside, and several new cracks and protrusions in the road formed as pipes were shoved underneath and out of alignment.

It was like a bomb had gone off. A silent, magnetically charged bomb, casually destroying an already ruined section of the city.

It seemed that Rose had achieved her goal - Vara Ren was nowhere to be seen.

The Falcon had been upturned, thrown aside like a giant dinner plate. Its boarding ramp was still open, but one of the hydraulic legs was warped beyond recognition, partially barring the entryway.

Something furious and ancient rocked against his senses, and Ben grit his teeth, trying to draw back into himself, reinforcing his mental shield.

Whatever was aboard that ship… it wasn't happy.

A second presence exploded into awareness against his empathic senses, and Ben had to hold on to the edge of a nailed board to not lose his balance.

"I think you pissed something off," he gritted out, still trying to adjust to this new alternate reality he'd stepped into.

Sorrow crossed Rose's features before they hardened again. "Yeah, I know."

"What the hell was that? Did that thing on your wrist do that?"

"Remember the apartment?" Rose fit her hand through a large gap in the slats. "Imagine that multiplied by about a hundred. Now be quiet, I can't aim with you talking my ear off. The Falcon's shields won't be off for much longer and I need to do this while it's still vulnerable."

He shut up, and Rose adjusted her aim and after a quiet exhale, clenched her fist. A small protrusion formed in the material hanging above her knuckles, and something small and fast zoomed out and into the open air.

Ben tracked the shape. It looked like a little arcing piece of metal, with a single light, and he watched as it hit the upturned Millenium Falcon.

"Hah." She allowed herself a brief expression of triumph. "I knew it. They're using an older model."

"You mean that's  _not_  the Falcon?"

"It's  _a_  Falcon." She brought her forearm up and a holo screen very similar to her sister's appeared. "The hardware and everything, it's just been upgraded, turned shinier, sleeker. Faster engine, better shielding." She was silent for a moment, and she added. "Bigger guns."

Something in Ben's heart cracked just a little at the last piece. It couldn't be. "So it's a warship?"

What were the Knights of Ren doing with a  _warship?_

"He's trying to make it one, yeah." A volcanic fury boiled under her skin for a moment, and Ben made a mental note to never tick her off. "But for all that he's tried to change her, he forgets that she's still the same on the inside."

Out in the park, the Falcon's propulsors flared.

"Take  _that!"_ Rose crowed victoriously. "And now..."

The ship began to rise. Ben only caught sight of a single immensely hairy arm climbing its way out of the Falcon's interior before it was flying up, up, and away. Wind blasts filled the park and even hidden inside the store Ben had to squint against the sudden gusts of particulate and detritus flying around everywhere.

A guttural roar exploded from the ship as it ascended, and Ben gasped, feeling the mourning - the pain in the sound - carried on air waves. His heart was clenched in a vice grip the longer the sound went on, because he knew, somehow that rage was not that voice's natural inclination. It had been tampered with, lied to.

The engine engaged and for the first time in his life, Ben got to see the Millenium Falcon blast off. Indigo light emitted from the rear of the ship as it reached the apex of its ascent.

For a moment the world rippled as he watched, awestruck, and then the ship rocketed away, clearing skies and cleaving through the clouds hovering above the city.

Rose sighed and turned around to lean against the boarded window. She raised her palm and another holo image appeared above it, projected by miniature lights on the tips of her fingers.

Ben didn't have to be a computer genius to understand the red blip rising in three dimensional space represented the ship that just left.

"I set the navicomputer to go as far away from us as possible and sealed the ship," she explained. "I guess they forgot I had that tech. We only have to worry about Paige now. I'm sure it won't take her long to get back here. The bomb just stalled things, at best."

He frowned. "Who's Paige?"

Rose bit her lip and looked out the window again. Dust from her magno-kinetic bomb was still settling but something about it abruptly changed. Air rippled above the spot where the Falcon had just launched itself from, high above the park, and suddenly, something  _sliced_  through existence itself and rematerialized.

The warmth in Ben's chest, the one that had drawn him to this spot in the first place, returned.

"Paige is my sister's name," she murmured. "While she holds the mantle, she's known as Vara, of the Knights of Ren."

The figure that stepped through the cut in reality didn't fall to the ground. She slid through the opening like a diver, arms together, and when she made it all the way through, she spread her limbs wide. She stabilized in midair, dull teal light emanating from the soles of her feet. Her hair whipped about as she looked around, swiveling and diving in the air like a fish in water, searching for something.

The blast and thrum of her boots should have masked all other noise but Ben focused, listening as she brought her wrist up and spoke into it.

"Bocid Ren, come in. Bocid Ren, do you copy?"

An opening appeared in the cloud cover, and he finally got a good look at the woman who had once been only a story.

She was taller than Rose, but Ben could see the resemblance. Dark hair, drawn up in a ponytail. Flush cheeks, not from windburn, but from the stoking flare he felt in her heart. She wore goggles that gleamed with artificially projected light, and a suit much like Rose's, except sleeker and more aerodynamically inclined, lacking all the pockets Rose had.

Her boots, rigid dangerous looking things that seemed to pulse and push against nothing, kept her aloft as she flitted over and around the epicenter of her sister's magno-kinetic bomb. She hovered there for a minute before she made a harsh guttural sounding noise that raised the hairs on the back of his neck.

When she lifted her hand, another slice in the fabric of reality appeared above her, and a small, spherical object fell from the portal and into her waiting palm.

"We need to move," Rose uttered.

"What do you-"

" _Found you."_

The sound had come from behind them. Ben pivoted on the ball of his foot faster than he should have, being so close to Rose. The movement generated a strong gust, knocking Rose aside, but out of view of the portal, which was barely larger than a computer screen at about face height. Paige stared at him from the other end, holding the spherical object. Her expression was carved from stone.

She held the object out of the portal, ready to drop it, in the universal language of  _don't move or things go boom._

Ben held up his arms in faux surrender. He wasn't worried about getting hurt himself, but Rose was still getting up from where he'd accidentally knocked her into a display of cans and bottles.

"Vara Ren?" he breathed.

Though he couldn't see her eyes beneath the luminescent goggles, he got the impression she'd narrowed them. Suspicion, curiosity, and a tightly laced anger trickled in from her, through her little portal. The feeling was like a crack in a dam, clawing at his empathic senses, like a predator waiting for prey to make its move.

She said nothing, instead choosing to run one of those blue light scans the droids from three weeks ago had. The light flickered his form up and down.

Ben chanced a quick look over to confirm that Rose was still out of sight, waiting for… something.

"How'd you find me?"

"The detonation signal could only have come from within the vicinity." Vara answered. She sounded bored. Clinical. "I only had to focus."

Before he replied, she said, "You knew we were landing here." It wasn't a question so much as a statement. "You were ready for us."

He couldn't hold back his laugh. "Vara, believe me, until ten minutes ago I thought I was on a sort-of date. I wasn't expecting  _this_. A kiss? Maybe. You, dropping in on the Millennium Falcon? Uh, no. Definitely not."

In the background, behind the portal, he heard Rose mutter something uncharitable about his bloodline. He kept the smile on his face, hoping she'd get the hint and run. Whatever was going on, whatever was wrong with the Knights, he didn't want anyone to get hurt, even insufferable secret-keeping aliens who detonated weapons in his face.

She pressed a button on the device, and the sound of an electronic device priming itself beeped to life. "If not you, then who? Who was prepared for our arrival?"

"Would you believe me if I said I stumbled in on this mess?" He only hoped Rey stayed in the car, like he should have. "Trust me, I'm just as clueless as you. Uh, more clueless, I mean."

Vara shifted, gripping the sphere tightly, and he caught sight of the park around her. This area of the city wouldn't be able to handle another fight. The destruction left from the droids was bad enough.

"Answer me!" she spat. "Where did you send my partner?! Where is Bocid Ren?"

Ben shrugged. "I have no clue. Honestly."

The light of her goggles changed, shifting from a soft teal to the bleeding crimson he'd seen during the droid attack.

"Then tell me, Corellian," the voice that escaped her was silky. Voided of emotion. As if it knew the answer to its own question. "Where is  _Kylo Ren?"_

Ben stared. He… he couldn't feel anything from her. It was like she'd disappeared from his senses.

A hiss escaped the sphere, and the pace of the beeping increased.

Rose reached into her chest pocket and brought something capsule-sized out.

The crimson from Vara Ren's goggles faded, and in its place, violet emerged. "Engaging peaceful negotiations."

His eyes met Rose's, and she nodded. She tossed the capsule underhand, and right as it reached Vara's field of view through the portal she pressed another button on her glove, shouting, "Cover your face!"

Ben had just enough time to close his eyes, cover his ears, and turn away before the world exploded again. Vara cursed, before she too, was drowned out by the light.

Brilliant, incandescent light filled his sight, searing itself into his retinas and imprinting on his brain all the flash still images of the dimly lit store before it was set on fire. Unseen, compressed force hammered into him from behind, threw him forward, crashing him through the boarded windows and out into the street.

The shockwave passed overhead, causing nearby structures to groan.

Ben winced, turned over onto his back, and he stared at the cloudy night sky. The storefront was on fire, flames licking hungrily from its now open windows. The heat was chill compared to the blood pumping through his veins.

He turned his head toward the park and saw that a new crater had formed. Freshly dug up ground had been thrown up from the blowback of the explosive force that had gone through Vara's portal.

"I hate this job sometimes," Ben groaned. His head was still spinning.

"Welcome to the club," Rose said, right before she appeared next to him and tried hauling him up. "Come on, come  _on_. That won't stop her for long. She already recovered from the Merr-Sonn bombs faster than I thought."

He climbed to his feet, brushing debris from his clothing for what felt like the fifteenth time that night. As soon as he did, she pulled on his shirt, or what remained of it.

"I'm not running," he announced, more to himself than to Rose.

"What?" The light of the fire made her already shocked face look aghast. "Are you  _crazy?_  We can't take her! She's one of the Knights!"

Gently, he stepped back, causing her to release her grip on his shirt. A quick evaluation told him his clothing was an absolute goner again, not even counting the parts that were still on fire.

"Apparently I am, too," Ben said simply. He looked around and was relieved to see his duffel bag had been blasted out of the building, tool. He dug through the pile and extricated his hoodie. "And now it's my job to stop things like this."

_Even,_ Ben thought,  _if it that means stopping one of my childhood heroes._

Rose just stared at him like he was crazy.

Which, to be fair, was possible. A month ago he'd never have been able to fathom the idea of fighting Vara Ren, but he wasn't stupid. He'd seen the Falcon. He'd seen the tech and explosives casually thrown around.

She made a miserable moaning sound and looked up at the sky.

"It's Han all over again," she said, exasperated. "Oh Shining Moon. He's just like his dad."

Ben huffed. "You say that like it's a  _bad_  thing."

" _You_ never had to sit shotgun to that nerfherder while he was trying to do the Kessel Run with a faulty hyperdrive." Her shoulders sagged, and she sighed. "Well, I suppose she'd just be able to find you the same way you found her."

"What, you mean the chest-feeling thing? That pull?"

"It's your Resonance. It draws you to the other mantles when you're within close range. I thought it wouldn't kick in for a while since you're so new to the mantle, but I was wrong." Her eyes flicked to him. "This won't be easy."

"When is it ever?" He rolled his eyes as he shrugged on his hoodie. It was a lame disguise, but it would hide his identity should any intrepid reporters find him again.

There were sirens in the distance, getting closer, but the response time was slower around here. The city's resources were already spread thin.

"What do you know about her?" Rose asked, after a stilted silence. She checked various pockets and bags along her suit, and he decided he needed to ask her where she'd gotten it - there wasn't a singe on it. "You grew up on Han's fairytale versions of us, right? So you know what she can do?"

"Sort of," Ben admitted. It was bizarre to be talking to one of those figures from his childhood stories. "Two genius sisters from… Hays Minor, right? One of you got the mantle but the other's just as scary."

Rose chuckled. "Nice to know I left an impression. The mantle of Vara Ren enables the bearer mild magno-kinetic abilities and the baseline strength, speed, and resilience to make most sapients run in the opposite direction."

"So, she's just like me then?" he winced.

His companion shook her head. "Not as strong. She's still strong enough to survive G-forces that would splatter a normal human into paste but in a straight up physical contest, Kylo Ren wins the match every time."

That was a relief. They walked toward the park, hugging close to scorched walls that hadn't been demolished yet.

"But then there's her other power," Rose sighed. "The real prize afforded by the mantle."

"That portal thing?"

She nodded and scanned around the edge of an upturned car, then gave him the all-clear signal. They hurried across the street and took cover under a veranda that clung limply to its fastenings via one bar.

"I'm not sure how she does it. Not even she knows how, but she can bridge a flat plane of space with another somewhere else. She has to know their absolute coordinates at all times, so she can't just bring Bocid and the others to us - or us to them, thank the maker for that." Rose scrunched up her face in concentration. "But the biggest problem isn't the stuff the mantle gives her. It's her mind."

"I remember. Supergenius, right?"

"That's the least of it," Rose's voice was dry as the Sahara. "How fast do you think the Earth is moving?"

Ben blinked at the non sequitur. He floundered for a second before he said, "Fast?"

"This planet is orbiting your sun at somewhere around thirty kilometers per second, or sixty-seven thousand miles per hour. The surface is rotating along its axis at almost one thousand miles per hour, never mind all the other gravitational forces pulling on everything."

He shivered. If he'd had any doubt about her off-world authenticity, he didn't now. The way she'd said  _this planet_ , while not uncaring, gave a worldly sense that Ben had only ever heard from his father.

"Your point?" he said, to cover up the sudden goosebumps crawling up his flesh.

"Paige can bridge two flat planes of space wherever she chooses," Rose whispered. "But that's just it. Two flat planes in space. Motionless unless otherwise acted upon. She can move them as she needs to."

And suddenly he understood.

"Are you telling me she's accounting for  _planetary drift_ and  _rotation_?"

"The mantle helps, but," she looked contemplative, "previous bearers weren't able to do what she does. That thermal detonator she grabbed? She yanked that from her private cache, over five thousand light-years away."

He could see what his dad meant about Vara being dangerous. It was a fight to wrap his mind around even fathoming the numbers, but he believed Rose. She was a shining beacon of honesty now, a complete subversion compared to how she'd been before, when her emotions had been guarded and cagey.

"Great. No pressure. So what's the plan?" he asked, just as they headed for the construction equipment in the middle of the park. Most of it had been upturned due to Rose's magnetism trick.

She jerked and looked back at him, the stalk of the crane casting her in astonished shadow.

"Plan?" she gaped. "I thought  _you_  had the plan! You've been acting so confident! Are you telling me you came in here all  _it's my job to stop this from happening_  and you didn't know how you were going to do that?"

"I'm not the one who planted a literal magnet bomb conveniently where the Knights landed!" Ben hissed. "And what about that trick with the spaceship hack-thing?"

"That was the only card I had! It took me  _months_ to get that bomb ready! And it only worked because she was unprepared! She won't be caught off guard a second time." Regret and realization crossed her face, and Ben had a front row seat to the sinking horror seep through. "This was a bad idea. We need to run."

Ben's argument against was broken by the sound of something heavy shifting in the earth. He heard someone grunt and push and break free of the sudden cave-in she'd found herself under.

He swallowed. "I think she's back."

Then he felt it. The full brunt of Vara's emotions. It felt like the spiced taste of a well-seasoned charcoal grill. It bristled at the inside of his mouth, persistent, while empty sulfurous smell of ozone filled him.

Before either of them could react, the earth shook. Cloud cover shattered as a distinct human-looking shape zipped straight up, faster than any missile. It broke through the dusty rain clouds that'd been gathering all night, scattering them in a wide meteorological anomaly.

He felt Rose's hand on his shoulder and her acid-like whisper of, "We need to  _run."_

Ben shrugged her hand off. Even at this distance, he could see Vara stare down at them, glowing goggles reflecting sinister violet -  _not_  crimson - light.

"She doesn't want to hurt anyone," Rose tried again. "She only wants your mantle! Please don't give it to her!"

Ben met her stare and remembered this was her sister Rose was talking about.

"I won't hurt her much," he vowed. "I promise. Just enough to stop her."

He crouched and then pushed off, rising through the air, leaving the ground with twin impact craters and pushing Rose aside with the sudden burst of wind. He pretended not to hear her as her voice carried up to him at the apex of his jump, shouting, "You absolute nerfherder! She isn't the one I'm worried about! You're just like your father, you  _complete-"_

The rush of the wind swallowed whatever other insults she was hurling his way. He landed on the roof of the same building from which he'd saved the father and son from burning to death in - that felt like a lifetime ago - and didn't stop for a second. He spun on the ball of his foot toward the docks and leapt off. The last major section of the roof that was still standing slowly collapsed in on itself as he pushed off, and Ben cringed at the damage, but kept his focus forward.

He'd done this enough times to be used to the relative quiet of the air as he landed and rose in even spurts. Yes, he had a Knight on his tail but it wasn't any different from when he'd fought those droids.

Vara's voice was brutal and clipped as a portal opened up next to his face and she hissed, " _Pretender."_

Ben startled, turning to see through the portal. She too, was moving through the air, a panoramic view of the city spreading behind her as she flew on anti-grav boots. Her arm was extended, fist pointing at his face, but not for a punch. More like she was bracing herself.

The material in her suit reared up, forming a concave tube that looked like the barrel of a shotgun.

Vara's violet goggles glowed in the dying light of the waning moon.

Scarlet matter slammed into his chest, throwing him from his course. He had a microsecond to realized what this foreign feeling was.

_Pain._

Proper, ache in the face pain - before physics took over, and he careened down at a sharp angle to his original flight. His jaw hurt like he'd just had a megaton press punch him in the face, but all his thoughts turned to mush as he was sent crashing into the street below.

He plowed through pavement like it was soft tissue paper and only came to a stop once he'd hit the geological strata beneath the sewer.

Quiet. The world had gone quiet. Buried in the destruction and hole, Ben could barely string two thoughts together.

The first was  _Ow._

The second was  _I don't know if I can beat her_.

It was a sobering realization.

He'd gone most of his life believing most things wouldn't be able to hurt him. All those aches and pains that people ran into? Those weren't things he dealt with. He could run for as long as he wanted, endure punishment that would flatten most living things, and be content that most of his troubles would come from other people and not his own body.

"Get up," Ben ordered himself. His body wasn't obeying him, and his limbs felt formless, like jelly. "Get  _up_ , dammit!"

Feeling slowly returned to his hands in the form of pins and needles, like nothing he'd ever experienced before.

It took longer than he'd ever admit to crawl out of hole. Longer, even, with the pressing threat of Vara Ren waiting somewhere for him, flying over the city like some predatory bird.

When he did finally crawl out of the hole, Hosnia's sewer system lay before him. He was clueless about his next move and surrounded by a dying halo of light from the hole in ceiling he'd come in.

In retrospect, jumping around in plain sight against the woman who could make portals had been a bad idea.

The sewer was dank and wretched on his sense of smell. It burned his eyes and it was a struggle to breathe in the air. But even more than that, it was dark, and strange things hovered on the edge of his little barrier of light. He'd never been afraid of the dark, but this was a different kind of darkness - the kind that was old, and ancient - the kind that remembered when most of the world had been covered in it.

Patient, waiting darkness. People died in darkness like this. They went missing and turned up, decades later, unknown and forgotten by the world at large.

Ben shivered.

An idea floated up from the most dregs and cobwebs of his mind.

A shape appeared in exit up above. Ben saw pinpoints of violet search the aperture back and forth, right as he took a breath and stepped out of the light and into the shadow.

Her extrasensory abilities wouldn't work down here, not if they were like his. He could see in this darkness, but the acoustics of the tunnels were wrecking merry hell with his coordination and his nose was all but useless here. She wouldn't be able to fly down here either, not without caving the whole thing in and losing his trail. And her portals would hopefully require a line of sight in a place like this.

"This is a terrible idea," he admitted aloud.

His voice got her attention, and a portal appeared within the halo.

Out stepped Vara Ren, looking untouched by the surrounding foulness.

"Pretender," she greeted.

"Vara," he nodded, trying not to gulp. He wondered if she could discern the mock geniality.

She canted her head, violet goggles giving her a monstrous appearance, cast in shadow..

"This doesn't have to be difficult. My master requires your presence. Tell me where you sent Bocid and we will treat you fairly."

_Master?_  His dad's stories had never included anything about a  _Master._

"Does 'fairly' mean getting decked through three street levels at a height that would kill most people? Because if so," Ben cracked his neck, "I'd hate to see what you do to those you treat unfairly."

That might have been a ghost of a smile, or maybe a smirk, on her lips.

"Consider it payback," she sort-of grinned. "I admit, it's been awhile since someone's thrown a detonator at me. Most people are smart enough not to do that." A twin slice in the fabric of space revealed a dusty vista before it closed. Two droids, smaller than the ones he'd fought, floated around Vara, orbiting her head like a dog would its owner.

She tilted her head, and stated, "You're inexperienced. You're unsuited to the mantle." She stepped forward out of the light and into the shadow, and the only thing he could see of her was the synthetic light from her eyes. Pity and something like cruel amusement was seeping through the timbre of her voice. "Do you even know what you have done, Pretender?"

Ben took two steps back, grey water stirring against his ankles. With the light to her back he was at a disadvantage, but if he could bait her into following him deeper into the tunnels, maybe he could lose her.

"Stop  _calling_  me that," he said, feeling real annoyance. "I'm  _Kylo Ren_. Now and forever."

They rounded the corner, the last vestiges of life and civilization left behind them. Now the only thing left were her goggles, trailing after him like a featureless beast.

"Yes, your predecessor said much the same." Fondness crept through, flowing bit by bit from her. "It saddens me to see his gift wasted on the likes of  _you."_

Quiet filtered in through the walls. It oozed from crevices and rose like vapor from the odious gases choking him in that deep, dark tunnel, with no end or beginning.

Inhale, exhale. Those still eyes, like gimlets of lava, watched him. A whisper of stale air brushed against him in a ghost's caress.

_Steady. Steady._ Why was he afraid? She was strong, but so was he.

He was  _strong,_  like Kylo Ren.  _Fast,_  like Kylo Ren.  _Powerful,_  like Kylo Ren.

Ben remembered every single description his father had ever had for the hero - the hero Ben had always idolized above the rest.

But right then, he didn't feel like Kylo Ren.

He licked his lips, and tried to muster some strength back into his tone, "If not me, then who?"

The eyes goggles flickered closed, mechanism shutting. For a moment the tunnel plunged into darkness and emptiness so complete and perfect, broken only by the smell of rot and waste, that Ben believed maybe he was dying right along with it.

And then the mechanical eyes opened once more, and he wished they'd switch back to the violet of Rose's sister once more.

Crimson. A hateful, cruel crimson that evaluated life based on its carbon emissions and discarded it based on its attachments.

" _Me!_ " said the thing using Vara Ren's voice.

Because that wasn't her - it wasn't  _Vara Ren, hero of the galaxy._

It wasn't the hero from his childhood stories.

Ben turned tail and fled - ran from the monster like a child afraid - rocketing down tunnels never meant to sustain a superspeed run, throwing a tsunami of water behind him.

* * *

"It wasn't even a real date," she sighed. "Not a real date and he  _still_ figured out a way to bail."

Rey groaned, sunk into her seat, and realized she had no clue where Ben had gone to.

She'd turned to her police scanner app in the minutes since he'd left the car, taking his comfortable body heat with him, but it was a slow night. Nothing beyond the usual patrol routes and call-ins, and she wouldn't interfere with those. Somehow, she still had  _some_  faith in the city's police.

But that didn't mean she wasn't bored.

The stakeout, as far as she could tell, was a dead end. The people handling the debris payload looked suspicious, but that was because when you had to wait around in the overly warm cabin of your coworkers' car for hours on end, everything looked suspicious.

Ben still wasn't picking up his phone. She wouldn't have put it past the old him to ditch her, but he'd been acting differently. A year earlier, maybe she would have expected this, but not now… not with his soft secretive smiles and his eyes that drank in more than an ocean's worth whenever he looked at a person. He was still prickly, but now he was more like a moody cat rather than the uncaring rosebush he'd been before.

Rey stopped herself and rubbed her eyes.

"I hate that man," she said aloud, with the company of no one in the car with her. "I may also have a crush on him." She gave it another moment's thought. "I think I hate him even more for that."

She was saved from any further thoughts of self-reflection when the crisp crackle of an urgent call resounded from her phone.

"All units, attention all units, there is a ten-seventy at Jeddha Park _._ Possible involvement of the individual known as Kylo Ren. Preliminary reports of unknown accelerant or explosives involved. Ten-seventy at Jeddha Park. Proceed with caution."

Rey shut her phone off and tried not to scream in frustration.

A ten-seventy meant a fire, possibly a big one considering the urgency with which they'd spoken. A fire where Kylo Ren was involved and  _where the hell was Ben?_

Suddenly, a manhole cover down the street exploded upwards, followed by a human blur leaping out from the hole behind it. Rey leaned forward in her seat to get a better look, and she saw someone else fly-

_Were those hoverboots?_

_-_ out of the manhole, slicking off disgusting fluids to the street below like water off a duck's back.

The first figure, which she now recognized as Kylo Ren, reached the manhole cover. He grabbed the metal plate with one hand around the edge and torqued, spinning and launching the manhole cover at his pursuer like it was a frisbee.

Her jaw dropped as a portal-

_A portal, a freaking portal? What the hell was going on with this city?_

-opened right in front of them. The manhole cover flew in and emerged from its twin, which appeared directly above and behind Kylo. It slammed into his back and she heard him cry out in pain, his momentum violently stopped. The cover curved around and rolled off, falling like a discarded spitball.

The second figure backhanded the cover as it neared, and it spun in the air like a massive coin.

Rey's instincts screaming at her to pay attention, and quickly, she realized its trajectory.

She flung open the car door and tumbled out into the street as the manhole cover crashed into the engine. The car swung up on one end like a seesaw before it came down in a crash so severe the windshield ruptured and scattered shards of glass.

Luckily, Rey had the foresight to get away, and she'd made it halfway across the street before a stray piece of glass nicked her upper arm, near her shoulder, causing her to stumble and cry out.

Two smashes shook the earth. Kylo Ren collapsed from free-fall about ten feet away from her, bouncing once, twice, before coming to a painful sounding  _thud_  as a finish. He was gasping, clutching at his back where he'd been struck, and was covered in sewage and slime.

In contrast, the other one who landed next to them was speckless. She wore a uniform of dark grey and midnight, with flitting rivers of silver. Two spherical droids, smaller ones than those Rey had met originally, were flying around her like hummingbirds around a deadly, enchanting flower.

"A good attempt," complimented the stranger. She raised what looked like a futuristic glove-thing with a massive barrel on top. "But this ends here."

Rey knew villain-talk when she heard it.

The glove-thing glowed with power.

Rey did the first thing she could think of, grabbing a sharp piece of glass the size of her finger, accidentally cutting her palm along its edge, and she threw it at the woman.

The glass whistled through the air. One of the orbiting droids spun on its axis and fired a crimson shot at the glass, intercepting it before it could get even within five feet of her. Rey bit back her surprised yell and watched as the glass shard was turned to dust, the sharp scent of ozone filling her nose.

When the smoke cleared, she realized she'd gotten the stranger's attention.

The woman turned toward Rey.

Her goggles flared red.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	10. Run Away

Rose leaned against the wall of a fast-food joint and tried to catch her breath, feeling stitches in her sides.

_Why is it,_ she thought,  _that whenever a Solo gets involved, I either have to chase after them or get chased by something else?_

Ben had probably expected her to head back and contact him when everything was over to explain everything. It would've been amusing, if it hadn't resulted in her lungs feeling like they were on fire and her legs like they were about to collapse under her.

_At least he forgot to check for any bugs._

She engaged her helmet and saw the tracker in the upper right of her HUD that showed her a little red blip that was punching through walls and barriers like they weren't even there.

Which was weird, because when Kylo or Lyta did their best Reek impression, things were usually much louder. Unless…

Rose willed the suit to retract from her fingers and felt the material ripple back, bunching up like a shirt around her forearm.

There were abnormal vibrations, in the air and through the ground.

_Clever_.

Paige wouldn't be able to fight well in the sewers. Not unless she caved the whole system, and that meant risking Ben's life, which Rose guessed went against the Supreme Leader's orders.

But Ben also wouldn't be able to do anything but run and he was being chased by one of the most dangerous sapients in the galaxy. The only other person she could think of who would be worse to engage in a pursuit like this would be Lyta.

Thank the maker Lyta Ren wasn't around for this.

Pushing off the wall, Rose broke out into a light jog, working her way up to a breakneck pace. Even without a mantle she was at least as fast as the planet's premier athletes, despite the weight of her gear and lack of resilient, cosmically empowered muscles and organs.

Kylo Ren's blip bobbed one way and then twisted, blasting down a straightaway that lined up with the city blueprints in her HUD. His movement was erratic and jerky, and Rose frowned as she, too, cut down a path - leaping over a chain-link fence to follow him up above ground.

His marker halted, and dread filled her gut.

She was close enough that she could hear the spin and pressure whistle of something blast out of the street. Rose disengaged her HUD, and was left with just the one-way view of her helmet's visor, running down human streets, pumping her legs, willing more energy into them.

When she turned the last corner, she stopped at the sight.

Ben was on the ground, clambering to his feet. He was covered in muck and slime, and the way his upper body was smoking, she could only assume Paige had gotten in a few shots while she'd chased him in the sewers. There was a hole in his hoodie, near his ribs, where the raw pink of a recent plasma shot glowed.

Paige was there. She had her arm cannon pointed at him, almost nonchalantly, but then Rose saw her turn to face a third person.

Rose stifled the string of curses when she saw who it was.

_How?!_ How did Rey keep finding her way into these fights?!

"You are brave," Paige rasped.

Rose stiffened at the voice. That wasn't her sister talking. She'd never been able to prove it, but she'd always theorized that the Supreme Leader could string them up like marionettes, instead of just supplanting core parts of the Knights' personalities with pieces of his own.

"I commend you for that," the Knight added.

Pulling back out of sight into the cover of the building, Rose hid as best as she could and patted down her gear, looking for something that could help and wouldn't result one or more of her friends dying.

Another Neimoidian flash-bang wouldn't work, not with the two sentry droids Paige had circling her. They'd sound the alarm and Rose would be on the wrong end of those things once Paige opened a portal and sent it back.

Paige raised her other arm.

An EMP wouldn't work either. Paige had long since added redundancies and protections into her suit to handle those.

The high whining prime of the arm cannon rose to a painful pitch.

Blasters wouldn't work - those shots would just get sent elsewhere. With the sentry droids, no physical weapon would work.

Their best shot had at fighting her had been Kylo Ren, and he couldn't move fast enough to beat her, as evidenced by the fact that he was still struggling to get to his feet.

The light of superheated plasma glowed on Rey's face, and Rose knew what she had to do.

She stepped out from behind the building and shouted at the top of her voice, " _Paige!_ "

The woman whipped around, raising both arm cannons in Rose's direction. Even in the dim light of evening, with the illumination from the street lamps down the street, she could make out the ashen color of her face. Behind her, Rose saw Rey run behind a truck parked along a loading dock.

"Who are you?" Paige demanded, her voice sounding more normal, "How do you know that name?"

Rose swallowed. With her helmet and voice modulator on, no one could recognize her, but Paige didn't have to recognize  _her_  - just her tech. The tech they'd  _both_  helped develop.

"You don't have to do this, Paige."

Her goggles wavered, flickering between violet and red eyes of death.

"You're interfering in an official mission ordained by the Supreme Leader," Paige said, trying a different avenue. She sounded strained. "Identify yourself, or be considered an enemy combatant."

Ben struck, with none of the poise, and none of the grace he'd had in his last fight.

He blurred from his position on the ground, ripping up pavement and coming in for a full-body tackle, faster than Paige or her droids could react. With a bestial roar he rammed into her, sending her  _flying_  sideways into a car with a manhole cover buried in its hood. She crashed into the side, upturning the vehicle.

Rose's heart leapt up into her throat. She knew her sister was probably uninjured, but there was still a twinge of concern in her chest.

All was still for a moment - the silence broken only by the weak, valiant alarm ringing from the upturned car.

And then Vara Ren rose, walking around the side of the car like she was on a Sunday stroll.

She raised her arm and fired a trio of shots in Ben's direction, forcing him to duck, dodge, and weave through the shots. Portals appeared and disappeared like ripples on the surface of water, shots diving in and out of them, sending the shots flying back and forth, trapping him in a cage of laser fire.

He tried breaching the perimeter and was rewarded with a portal opening right in front of his gut, sending the normally powerful killshot in front of him. Rose winced as she heard him keen with pain, but he stayed standing, only for the remaining shots to appear out of a set of portals around his legs, kneecapping him and sending him sprawling across the ground.

Rose circled around them, hoping to find  _some_ way to help that wouldn't end with a hole in her chest.

"What are you waiting for?" Ben roared. It took Rose a second to realize he wasn't talking to either of them. "Get out of here!"

A quick glance around told her that Rey was halfway down the street, running from them in a full-out sprint with her ponytail flying behind her.

Vara raised an idle arm in that direction, and the light of her goggles flooded with the hateful glow. Rose aimed her own arm cannon, hoping to make the impossible shot that would be child's play for her sister. She fired, her blast shot heading straight for Paige's hand to knock it off course, but one of her sentry droids got in the way. The droid exploded into shrapnel and fell to the ground, dead.

The gun was still pointed at Rey, and Rose's heart sank.

"Pae-Pae,  _no_!"

The Supreme Leader sneered out at her from behind that face, and with a clench of Paige's fist, the blaster fired.

The bolt flew down the street, and Rose could only follow its intended trajectory with her eye... even she couldn't move fast enough to stop it.

Rey turned, her eyes widening at the glow of the blaster bolt.

And then the shot missed.

It hissed by, only a breath's space away from melting Rey's face, and it continued down the straight, ending in a collision with a power line tower further down the street.

Ben sped toward her, putting himself between Rey and Vara like a large protective shield, but Rose's mind was too much of a blur to react.

_Paige never missed. Not when it mattered._

She felt the first true spark of hope she'd had in a long, long time.

_She's still in there._

The crimson glow from her goggles was gone, and Vara's remaining sentry droid disappeared into another portal.

"My sister," Paige whispered. "My own sister... a  _traitor?"_

"You don't have to do this, Pae-Pae." Tentatively, Rose took a step forward, arms up to signify her peaceful intentions. "Please, let's talk."

"You-" Paige's voice came out sounding choked. "You're betraying me?"

"I'm not, I swear." Rose didn't hesitate to turn off her voice modulator as she approached. "Please, let me explain everything. I promise, I'm not betraying you."

"Explain? Explain  _what?_  That you're siding with the Pretender?" She took a deep shuddering breath, and a step back. "The Supreme Leader needs Kylo Ren, sister. Have you forgotten our purpose?"

"What is our purpose?" Rose challenged. The block had gone dark thanks to the blaster shot that'd hit the power lines. "Can you tell me? Because I think we remember it differently."

Paige recited as if by rote, "Our purpose is to guide the galaxy to peace, per our Master's orders. To never disobey, for he knows all."

"Guide it to peace? Or to ruin?"

" _Peace!"_

Rose continued to approach her slowly. "Okay, peace, then. So, why'd you miss? If your purpose is to bring peace, and shooting my friends would have done that, why'd you miss?"

"I-I didn't." Paige took another step back. Her breathing was coming out hard. Heavy.

"It's because you  _knew_  killing an innocent was wrong."

"She is  _not_  an innocent!" Paige tried. "She involved herself in a conflict between the Knights!"

Rose smiled softly, even if it pained her to see the agony and conflict going through her sister's expression. "So you acknowledge him, then? Kylo Ren is worthy of his mantle? He's not just a  _Pretender?"_

Paige raised her arm cannon in alarm, but Rose didn't flinch. She couldn't flinch, not when she was so close.

"Sister, I..." Paige lifted her goggles, and for the first time in forever Rose saw the clear, uncloudy eyes of her sibling. There were tears in her violet eyes. "I- I don't know how to answer. Why don't I know? Why- why can't I tell?"

She was scrabbling, looking for mental purchase and grounding. Coming out of the throes of thraldom must have been terrifying. It was painful to see her sister look so lost.

"It's okay, Pae-Pae," she soothed. "I've got you. I'm here." Her throat tightened. "Let me take care of you."

She lifted her hand, and was about to brush her sister's weapon down, guide her back to herself, when Paige's communicator beeped.

"No," Rose breathed. "No, please don't-"

It was too late. Instinct took over and Paige opened the comm channel.

" _What is a Knight without her liege?"_ asked the rasping, evil thing on the other end of the comm.

Paige stiffened, her face going slack, before  _it_  returned. The fog. The control.

The parasite with a hold on her mind.

She slapped Rose's hand away and jumped ten feet into the air, engaging her anti-grav tech to stay aloft.

" _Retreat,_ " the voice commanded, " _Find Bocid and regroup. Do_ not  _fail me, Vara._ "

Paige's response was empty of all inflection. "Yes, Supreme Leader."

And then she opened a portal, deaf to Rose calling out her name. With barely a glance down, she slid through it.

The last thing Rose saw her do was slide the goggles back down over her face.

* * *

Ben didn't need his abilities to see the sheer pain emanating from Rose. The moment her sister slid through the impossible portal she'd opened, then closed it up behind her, it was as though a switch had flipped. Rose's shoulders fell, and every bit of emotion he'd felt from her before - hope, fear, concern, determination - melted into one agonizing maelstrom.

He faltered. He hadn't felt anything that awful from someone since the day he'd been forced into a suit his father would have laughed at, just so he could stand next to his mother and be subjected to the overwhelming suffocation that was sensing a new widow's emotions.

That horror and despair tore and cracked through Rose like lightning down a solitary sky. Loneliness and heartbreak so severe he wanted to collapse on the street and fall to pieces.

Ben gasped, choking on the feeling as dread seeped in around it, and the sound must have caught Rose's attention. Despite her helmet, he could see her face contort, and she sighed as she realized the cause of his pain.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, her voice thick. "I'm so sorry. It's been a long time since I've been around an empath. My control isn't as good as it used to be."

The feeling mellowed - not to anything in the realm of what he was used to, but the knot in his chest loosened enough for him to catch his breath. He let the feeling wash over him rather that have it tighten around his throat like a noose.

"It's okay. Don't- don't worry about me." He coughed, feeling how tender his ribs were. Glancing to the open space the portal had once occupied, he asked, "What are we going to do? Do you have a way to find out where she went?"

The street was eerily quiet. The loading dock workers had fled as soon as he'd escaped the sewers, and the shot to the power lines had killed some ambient lights in the area. It was just him, Rose, and the itching smell of ozone along with the kniving feeling along his ribs.

"Not tonight. Go make sure Rey's okay, and get her home safe, okay?" She looked him up and down and rolled her eyes. Then she dug into one of her many pockets and tossed him a little ball that seemed to be made of hard plastic. "Open it up when you need a change of clothes. It's compressed and won't hold up after a wash but it should do for tonight. I know it seems tiny, but it's all in there."

He turned the ball over in his hands and then looked up at her. "And what are you going to do?"

She was quiet, mulling over her options, before she settled on, "Fly, I think. That's my best way of making sure she didn't just portal somewhere else in the city. My guess is that she's gone after the Falcon, and that should give us time to rest and regroup before we need to deal with things."

A quiet voice interrupted. "Is someone going to tell me what the hell's going on?"

Ben startled. He'd almost forgotten about her. He turned to see Rey approaching like she hadn't just challenged another otherworldly being for the second time in a month.

She inclined her head in a nod to them. Her control was admirable but even in the dark of night, he could tell she was holding herself together by sheer stubborn will. The twitchy ball of coiled spikes echoing in his head was more than enough indication. "I'm pretty sure that goggle-woman just tried to kill us, so mind telling me what's going on? And while I've got you here, is this going to be a recurring thing? Because if so, I need to update my life insurance policy."

He'd never been more thankful for a hoodie in his  _life_ , and now even the slime that covered him was a blessing. Rose slapped down the visor part of her helmet, and considering that Rey wasn't bombarding them with dozens of questions, he guessed she hadn't figured things out.

Rose cleared her throat, but she must have turned the voice modulator back on because it came out sounding like a growl, and Rey took a step back, glaring at her distrustfully.

"Everything's okay now," Rose assured her. "Kylo Ren will make sure you get home. You have nothing to worry about."

_Wishful thinking_.

Rey blinked at her. He could see her hand itching towards her phone in her pocket. "Oh. Okay. What, are you his sidekick or something?"

The woman next to him stifled her laughter, and Ben frowned as she muttered, "More like the other way around, but-"

"We should go," he interrupted. Ignoring Rose and the apparent hilarity at the idea that she might be his sidekick (though, the humor was welcome in contrast to her previous mood), Ben stepped closer to Rey and couldn't help but grin. "Mind our usual form of travel? You didn't seem to mind it last time."

A feeling of curiosity trickled from her direction, and she said under her breath, "What is it with men tonight?"

He gave Rose a quick nod, silently promising to check in with her once he'd gotten Rey home, and then he smiled at the woman in front of him, and picked her up, snorting as she gave a surprised yelp at her feet no longer being on the ground

She wrapped her arms around his neck and grumbled something about  _not again_  as he took off toward her apartment. Wind whipped around them, and he held her tightly, relieved that she lived close. As much as he enjoyed having her in his arms (and wasn't  _that_  an interesting revelation), the curiosity that he felt from her as she looked up at him had Ben worried.

In less than a minute he stood in front of her building, and gently set her feet back on the sidewalk, trying to avoid leaning in as he looked down at her.

Rey's eyes narrowed, and the corner of her mouth turned up. "How'd you know where I live?"

Shit.  _Shit_.

"Good guess?" he blurted out, destroying the  _smooth dark Knight_  persona he'd been going for. "Uh- I- I've got to go."

She hummed. "What, no kiss goodnight?"

" _Uh- "_

Before he could chicken out and stammer through an excuse, Rey laughed, and winked. She took a step back, and her smile turned a little more fond, and thoughtful. "Well, maybe that's not such a good idea. I think I'm... with someone. Maybe. Or, I  _might_  be with someone. Assuming he wants that, too."

Ben stilled.

"I think I used to hate him." He watched, mesmerized as her teeth worried at her bottom lip. "Nah," she whispered. "I never hated him. Sometimes I  _wished_  I hated him. Maybe that would have been easier. He just always got all the good stories, and well, there was some jealousy there, for sure-"

His heart leapt into his throat, and he coughed. "Stories? So, he's a coworker?"

Rey's lips curled into a cat-like grin. "Oh, yes." She took a step closer. "You wouldn't happen to know  _Ben Solo_ , would you? Closeted Trekkie, kind of a tall giant, a body to die for, probably sold his soul for whatever hair treatment he uses?"

Well, he hadn't been wrong about her not needing a weapon to kill him.

When his only response was a blink, Rey shrugged, and let out a dramatic sigh. "No? Haven't met him? I'm guessing you have  _absolutely_  no idea what I'm talking about? Your loss, I guess." She leaned in a little and whispered, "Hey, I'm just teasing. You know you can tell me anything, right?"

Ben cleared his throat. "I should be going. Goodnight, Rey."

Her head tilted again, and she frowned just as he turned his back to her. "Oh. Okay. Goodnight, I guess."

Not daring to chance a look back at her, he tried to ignore the wave of disappointment that came from her direction, and he took off again.

It was becoming a habit... running away from what he was afraid of.

* * *

Rey stood outside her building, arms crossed, as she watched Kylo Ren disappear. It was the oddest set of coincidences she'd seen, and her gut had been  _sure_ …

Still, at least this way she'd be able to upload the footage she'd taken of the last bit of the fight onto her computer. She'd already sent out the emergency text to 911 regarding the location of the latest appearance of Kylo Ren, though she knew she'd need to put in an appearance down at the precinct for a statement.

Two notable appearances and conversations… she might just become a person of interest to the police if Kylo kept stopping to talk to her.

Sighing, Rey let herself into the building, and told herself the night was still a win. The stakeout hadn't turned up the information she'd been looking for, and sure, maybe she'd accidentally faced down a scary, murdery evil woman with crazy tech, but it would all make for a story Holdo would love. A few more run-ins with Kylo Ren and otherworldly villains and her career would be set, assuming she survived.

The climb to her apartment was an easy one, but Rey nearly fell backward down the stairs the moment she saw who was outside her apartment.

A disheveled Ben Solo was pacing in front of her door, wound with nervous energy. He held a large paper bag stamped with a trio of stars, and it smelled divine.

"Oh," she said. "Huh."

His head snapped up, and he sighed with relief. "You're okay. When I went back to my car, it was-" He frowned for a moment, stopping mid-sentence. "Wait,  _are_  you okay?"

Rey cringed as she put the pieces together. Or, rather, as she took apart the puzzle she'd put together incorrectly.

"Yeah, mostly. I've got a few cuts and a bruise or two. I  _also_  think I just made a complete idiot out of myself." She hesitated, wondering how much to say, and admitted, "Kylo Ren dropped me off outside and I... said some things. I guess I thought I'd figured out who he was and-"

Something niggled at the back of her mind though. Something about the bag he was holding. And the timing alone was suspicious...

Chewing at the inside of her cheek, she shrugged and concluded, "Well, now I realize I said some weird things and I'm sure I seemed like a total idiot."

"You could never be an idiot," he said softly. An odd, possibly guilty expression crossed his face, and he gestured toward the door. "C'mon, the food's probably cold, but I can look at those cuts for you."

She gave him a little smile. "That's okay, it's late. You don't have to do that."

Something soft touched the warm brown eyes she'd grown familiar with, and he tilted his head toward her apartment door. "You're acting like it's a burden for me to help you. What if I  _want_  to? What if I'd prefer to help clean a few cuts and make sure you're okay?"

"Oh. I guess you should come in, then."

It only took a moment to find her spare key, hidden above the doorway, since her keys were still in the now-demolished car, and she unlocked the door, letting Ben follow in behind her.

"I'll get the first-aid kit, mind putting the food in the kitchen? Heat some up if you're hungry."

Though, the heat she felt emanating from the bag meant that it was fresh...

Ben muttered something about  _being too nervous for food_  as she headed toward the hall closet that stored a well-stocked kit, and Rey had to bite back a grin.

When she went back into the living room, he was sitting on her couch, wringing his hands with visible tension. It was an interesting change, considering how flirty he'd been with her earlier that evening.

"It's just two cuts, I think." She took a seat next to him, handing him the white plastic box. "One on my upper arm, and the other on my hand."

Ben silently opened the kit up and rummaged through it.

"I'm glad you're helping," she admitted. "Neither of them are deep enough for me to bother with the ER, but they hurt like hell and I'd have trouble bandaging them myself."

Even though she was sitting right next to him, his words were almost too hushed to hear.

"It's no problem."

Rey winced as she saw him take out the antiseptic spray, and he tentatively took her offered hand, making an annoyed face at the laceration that stretched across her palm.

The spray stung more than the wound itself, but he held her wrist, stroking the inside of it as he murmured, "It's not too deep. I'm just going to clean it a little more and then wrap some gauze around your hand, okay? A band-aid won't be big enough."

"Yeah, that's fine," she nodded.

Not wanting to watch as he continued cleaning it, Rey glanced up, watching him. His hair was a mess of inky waves, and some had fallen over his face. On instinct, she reached up with her uninjured hand, tucking his hair back behind one of his ears.

Ben's eyes flashed up to hers at the touch, and that was when she realized how close they'd gotten - close enough to lean in, and finally stop dancing around what they both so clearly wanted.

He seemed to come to the same realization, and she watched his eyes widen. After a moment, he leaned toward her, pressing his forehead to hers.

"I was worried about you," he whispered. "Rey, I thought-"

"Yeah, I know."

Slowly -  _so_  slowly - he moved, sliding his nose against hers. A warm hand reached up, cupping her face, and Rey let her eyes flutter closed.

And then the apartment door flew open, and she pulled back in surprise, frowning at the woman who'd interrupted them.

She couldn't help but notice that Ben was still gripping her hand, and that intensified the frown she gave Rose as she walked in, seeming oblivious to what she'd just accidentally prevented.

"Oh good," Rose said, seeing them on the couch. "You're home."

She didn't seem surprised to see either of them, even though Rey had told her she'd be out late on a stakeout.

Come to think of it, the living room was a lot less cluttered than it had been only a few hours earlier. None of the strange tech-y items were anywhere to be seen.

And like Ben, Rose was wearing a different outfit.

Rey stared at her roommate, trying to overlap her mental image with the mysterious interloper who'd helped Kylo Ren tonight. They were about the same height and build, but the helmet and bodysuit had obscured a lot, and the lighting hadn't been the best. Currently, Rose was just in a cozy sweater and jeans.

Ben's outfit was pretty different from his previous one, too. His dress shirt and slacks had been swapped for something more casual, and even his shoes had been changed.

"It's pretty late," she said, feeling inquisitive, "Everything okay? I didn't realize you were going out tonight."

Rose smiled at her tiredly. Her eyes were puffy and her cheeks were flushed. "Just some family drama. It's no big deal. I wanted to go out on the roof for a while to look at the stars."

Except… Rey knew for a fact that the only way onto the roof was through a locked door that had a sensor alarm. The complex had locked the place tight a few months earlier, once unfounded rumors of rooftop drug deals had started circulating.

Ben rose off the couch. He was looking everywhere except at either her or Rose.

"I think I should go." There was a warm tinge to his cheeks, and something in her gut said it wasn't just because they'd been about to kiss. He seemed… startled. "The food should be good to nuke for tomorrow, if you're not hungry tonight."

"Wait!" She stopped him by grabbing his cuff.

His skin felt fever-hot to the touch, like he'd been running all night. If she focused beyond his distracting face, she thought she could smell the scent of burnt hair.

Almost as if he'd been somewhere he shouldn't have been tonight.

Like at the scene of a ten-seventy in progress.

"What's up?" He drew back his cuff and played with it, and she realized It was loose on him.

But, none of Ben's clothing was ever  _loose_  on him. She should know, she'd sat across from him often enough to learn his preferred style. Plus, it was something she shamelessly paid attention to.

She licked her lips, and thought back to the logo on the takeout he'd brought, "Just wondering, where'd you get the food?"

It was an innocent question.

Ben's brow crinkled in confusion. "Rogue Star's."

"Awesome, I love their burgers!" She didn't even have to fake the enthusiasm, but there was something wrong with what he'd said, and her gut was shouting at her to jump on it.

"Okay… good. I hope you like what I ordered." He squeezed her hand before walking toward the door, and said, "Goodnight, Rey."

He left without exchanging goodbyes with Rose, which she supposed was a little rude, but she couldn't find it in herself to care.

Because… a quick Google Search confirmed one very important fact, one that perhaps a healthaholic like Ben Solo would never know off the top of his head.

The only Rogue Star in the city was half an hour away - even longer on foot. And since she'd been in his car, Ben had been on foot.

But the food was still warm with the heat of a freshly made meal when she'd found him outside her apartment.

She didn't need her reporter-skills to connect the dots and see what the evidence showed.

Ben Solo was hiding something from her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	11. Holding Out for a Hero

Poe wondered if all superheroes' best friends enjoyed themselves as much as he did. It shouldn't have been possible for someone to be such a cliche in this day and age of at least two super-flicks being released per annum, but Ben had never been one to appreciate mass media consumption. The guy was a pop culture black hole.

"So you're telling me you dropped Rey off at her apartment without even asking her where she lived  _while_  you were Kylo Ren? Then you went back and waited for her as Ben Solo in front of her door, and you didn't think to even keep the clothes you'd been wearing when you'd seen her earlier that night? Dude, do you  _want_  her to find out?"

"Of course not, but it's not like I had a choice about my clothing," Ben grumbled. The elevator floor light indicator paused, waited an epoch, and then progressed to the number  _15_. "I had to toss what I was wearing after the fight. My clothes would have been a dead giveaway that something was up."

"Sure, but you could have called and let her know you got held up. Not gone back in the first place?" Poe offered. "You could even have said you got mugged to explain your clothes."

"Rose's magnet bomb ruined my phone, and that explanation makes no sense," Ben let out a long-suffering sigh. "What would I have gotten mugged by, a flamethrower?"

"How about by psycho Chell?"

"Who now?"

Poe rolled his eyes. "My references are wasted on you. Portal girl, what's her name? Vera?"

"Vara," Ben supplied. He ran a hand through his hair, looking jittery as the elevator climbed closer and closer to the top. "Vara Ren. One of my childhood heroes."

Poe leaned against the railing of the elevator, arms crossed, one foot propped back against the wall. "Well, you know what they say about meeting your heroes."

"If you're just going to be snarky about it-"

"Obviously I'm going to be snarky about it," Poe cut in. "Snark is like, forty percent of my daily output. I'm just saying, this is the first I've ever heard about these Knights. I thought you were the only one like you out there?"

"Yeah, I thought so, too." Ben shrugged. "But she wasn't exactly like me."

"No, she was just as fast, just as strong, but she had the side perk of being able to kick your ass up between your ears. Don't give me that look. I saw your bruises this morning." He clenched his jaw. "She almost got you."

"Yeah, I know."

"Is it going to happen again?" Poe remembered the talk they'd had with Finn. The conversation that had been a plunging leap into the ocean of clarity and perspective that was  _knowing people could die_.

"I won't let it."

The words were spoken right as the elevator doors opened on the eighteenth floor, by the person waiting on the other side. Poe blinked, seeing who had said them.

"Rose?" he asked, watching the shorter woman walk in. He looked out onto the floor, seeing nothing but a still in-construction floor with scaffolding pushed up against a wall. "Were you just waiting there? This floor isn't even finished."

"Morning Poe." She sounded exhausted. Like she'd slammed about eight hours worth of sleep into eight minutes and was still figuring out the instructions on waking up. "And no, I wasn't just waiting here. I just got in, came in through the window."

She said it like it was the most natural thing in the world, even though they were over a hundred feet above ground level. He sighed, shrugged, and reminded himself that his definition of normal had been rewritten that time he saw his roommate run over water.

"Can I assume Ben's filled you in on everything?"

Poe and Ben traded glances. "Pretty much everything he knows. Which isn't much."

"It's not my fault I don't remember all my bedtime stories," Ben said in his defense. "I could barely think straight by the time I got home last night. I'm still reeling and playing catch-up." His fist clenched, and directed his next words to Rose, "And it doesn't help that someone's been keeping secrets."

Instead of being intimidated, Rose scoffed. "Oh please, you're about three centuries too young to impress me with the tough act." Her tone softened while Poe reeled with the fact that she was, apparently, older than the American Revolution. "I've been worried about you, Ben."

Ben blinked owlishly. "You have?"

"You faced down a Knight." Her expression turned glassy as she looked beyond the confines of the elevator cabin. "Not many people can claim they've done that. And don't think I don't know what it's like to be powerless. To not be able to  _do_  anything as someone you love is caught in the crossfire. Trust me, it's a familiar feeling, and I'm sorry you had to deal with it."

Poe watched his friend's expression flicker from resolute annoyance to something vulnerable.

"Do you have a plan?" Ben asked.

"As it just so happens, I do." Rose's smile was sunshine on a rainy day. "Remember that ship I sent flying? The Falcon?"

Oh, wow. They were talking about an actual alien spaceship here. Poe felt like he was witnessing history. Earth's first superhero partnership discussing plans in the cramped cabin of an ancient elevator.

"I found it. It landed somewhere in the American Midwest. A town called Naboo?"

That name rang fire station's worth of alarm bells in Poe's head. He turned to Ben, wide-eyed, "Isn't that-"

"It is," Ben interrupted, voice terse. He gave Rose the full force of his attention as he demanded, "What's it doing there?"

"Not much, considering it crash landed there around midnight." Rose's voice was dry. "So far, the local news channels there haven't picked up anything weird, but there's a lot of chatter online about the surprise business conference in town clogging up the roads."

Poe felt like he was missing something. "Business conference?"

"Government agencies," Ben answered. "Trying to keep things hush-hush. They've been skittish about me, remember? And what am I supposed to do? It's not like I can leave the city, what if Vara comes back?" He hesitated, and glared at Rose. "I'm pretty sure your online monitoring is a violation of people's privacy, by the way."

"It's not so much me breaching their privacy as it is people broadcasting their lives on social media. I try not to break too many laws when I'm undercover Ben: it upsets the locals." The look she shot him was pointed. The elevator doors opened into the  _Prime Gazette's_ main office, and they stepped out. "And anyway, Vara isn't interested in the city. She's only interested in the capturing Kylo Ren."

"How do you know that?"

"Remember those weapons she used last night? Remember how one thermal detonator blew a new crater in the park?" Poe turned to look at Ben in alarm. He'd left out that part. Rose continued, unheeding of his reaction. "She's got thousands of them stored off-planet, some with ten times the yield. Imagine if she dropped the lot of them over downtown."

"Why would she even  _have_  that kind of stuff?" Ben had gone ashen.

Rose looked around, as if for any eavesdroppers, and Poe tiptoed closer to better hear. She leaned in and said, in a hushed whisper, "Snoke."

Ben stiffened. "The Supreme Leader-guy? The one affecting Vara?"

"You've seen it? When?"

"In the sewers. I didn't think I could take her, and I thought I could lose her down there, but it was like he took control of her."

Rose nodded and stood back to normal. "He's got a hold on them, but I don't know how. My sister, and the other Knights. It's been... it's been going on for a while." She swallowed. "He's been looking for the Kylo Ren mantle for just as long. I don't know much, but I know it's important to him."

"How important though?" Poe couldn't help but ask. "Are we talking  _The_   _One Ring_  kind of important?"

"Important enough that he's sent at least two Knights to retrieve it," Rose intoned, severe. The image was a stark contrast with the bright yellow cardigan she wore. "With another two probably on their way."

Ben looked sick, and for the first time in memory Poe could tell it had nothing to do with the small tsunami of people in the office. The man was afraid.

"I know," Rose said, seeing his expression "But listen, if we could turn even  _one_  of them over to our cause - save them from his clutches - our chances won't be great, but they'll-"

"There you are!" someone called. Poe turned to see that it was one of Holdo's various assistants. "Listen, Holdo said for the two of you to head straight to her office."

"What for?"

"Something about a new assignment out in the boonies. Naboo?" The intern turned away, presumably to let Holdo know that they'd just arrived.

"That's… concerning." Rose frowned after the intern. "I didn't think the general media would pick up on this so quickly. This might move the Knights to action."

Ben slumped. "Trust me, it's not the general media. I have a feeling I know how Holdo found out something's up."

"Does it have anything to do with that it's your hometown?"

His voice was wry as he replied, "Yeah. Something like that."

Rose glanced to another temp who was waving her over, and she turned back to Ben, promising to keep them apprised on the situation in Naboo, swearing she wouldn't be far along in case trouble came chasing after him.

Ben winced. "Do you think that'll happen?"

"Wow, you really  _are_  new to this, aren't you?" she snorted. "The others would've given you the hazing of a lifetime for saying that. Trouble always finds the Knights."

Poe wondered if Ben caught the warble in her voice as she said that last sentence. If he did, he didn't comment on it, nor did he mention her pained expression as brought out a futuristic phone and looked down at its lock screen.

When she was a far enough distance away, Poe brought up a point that'd been niggling at him.

"You haven't been picking up her calls."

It didn't need to be said who Poe was talking about.

"I know."

"When's the last time you even visited her?"

"I  _know_ , Poe."

Poe held up his hands. "Just saying. You're not the one she threatened to bake into a pie if something ever happened to you."

He chuckled. He still didn't know if that had been a joke or not.

"I can tell you're enjoying this," Ben snipped. "I mean, I can  _actually_  tell you're enjoying this. That 'ESP' thing remember?"

Poe clapped him on his back, his mood improving by the second. "What was it you said? Buck up, you got this?"

"I  _will_  change my Netflix password on you. I'll do it right before they put the next season of Stranger Things on."

"Fine with me." Poe shrugged. "I get enough entertainment watching you live your life I could write a book on it."

"Jerk."

"Best friend."

Ben laughed, and that was how Poe knew the guy was going to be okay. He was a little shaken up, a little off-balance, but Ben didn't need Poe to treat him with kid gloves. He needed someone to remind him there was still a normal life underneath all this insanity.

When they walked into Holdo's office, he saw Rey already sitting cozy on the loveseat by herself and Rose on the edge of a chair holding an astute-looking notepad and pen, ready to take notes.

Despite her playing them all for fools the past month, Poe was impressed. She'd ingratiated herself into Holdo and Rey's circle of trust and Ben had been none the wiser. And considering he was someone with enough superpowers to see why kids liked Cinnamon Toast Crunch, it damn impressive.

For someone who was supposed to be just a temp, she'd cemented her spot in the  _Prime Gazette,_ and Poe had a feeling she'd stick around longer than her scheduled time.

Rey examined both of them with a shrewd expression when they walked in, much like how she did whenever she was focused on writing up the details of a particular story.

And then he caught sight of Holdo's caught-the-canary smile. It would have sent Poe running for the hills if it had been directed at him.

"Mr. Dameron. Benjamin!" she said in the tone of voice reserved for a favorite nephew. She came around her dark wooden desk, bracelets jangling. "Guess who I had a very interesting conversation with this morning."

Ben's shoulders sagged. It reminded Poe of the running tally he'd been keeping of things that'd gone wrong since his friend donned the name of Kylo Ren. Two destroyed smart phones, a ruined car, and a wardrobe that was getting burning down to nothing. Literally.

"How do you feel about heading out to Naboo with your partner and sniffing around the mysterious crash landing that happened there last night?" Holdo's smile showed teeth. "And in the meantime, why don't you say hi to your mother while you're at it? I hear you've been dodging her calls."

Rey's eyes widened. "What's this about his mother?"

"His mother and I go way back," Holdo offered, drifting down into her seat, the picture of poise and grace. "It's how I knew he would be a good fit for our office, but don't worry, Miss Johnson. I've kept everything above board."

Poe watched as something mutinous warred on Rey's expression before she nodded, acceding the floor to their boss.

"What's this about a crash landing?" Rose spoke up.

Holdo waved her hand. "Yes, yes, back to business, I know." She paused and lifted a glass of water that she had on a side table. "I think it has to do with Kylo Ren."

"Of course it does," Rey blew out in a breath. She hadn't torn her eyes from Ben from the moment he'd stepped into the room, though Ben was too busy brooding to notice. She stared at him…

_Longingly?_

Poe almost clapped a hand over his mouth. Had something finally happened between the two idiots? He chewed at the inside of his cheek to stop himself from actually cheering.

Oblivious to Poe's glee, Rey ooked to Holdo, and leaned forward in her seat. "What's Kylo Ren done this time?"

"You mean beyond setting fire to Jeddha Park last night, ruining several key drainage tunnels and sending Public Works into a tizzy?" Holdo shook her head ruefully. "How about landing a spaceship?"

Rey frowned. "The news about Jeddha was on the local channels this morning, and I know he was running around the sewers last night, but what's this about a ship?" She checked the screen of her phone, which had been lying face down on the coffee table. "I haven't seen anything about that online."

Poe supposed he should be acting ignorant of this stuff, to help throw suspicious off Ben, but he also was curious.

"And you likely won't find out about it, either," Holdo said with a nod. "Only reason I know about it is because Leia called me this morning to tell me about the sky turning red and then catching fire as something large, flat, and shaped like a dinner plate tore through the upper branches of Naboo's forest cover."

Ben twitched, looked at Rose who sat placid and in awe of the tale, and then back to Holdo. "That sounds like speculation. Did she get a picture?"

Holdo continued, unheeding of his question, "It's not in the media yet because there's nothing to report on. Naboo's pretty far out of the way, so it hasn't gotten much attention. Leia mentioned some suspicious suits moving in this morning, probably because she wasn't the only person to see it, but everything's pretty quiet for the moment. That being said, I think we can assume this is related to Kylo Ren." There was beat. "Unless it's a different set of aliens here for something else, but that's not my job to figure it out. It's yours."

"Kylo Ren had someone with him last night," Rey mentioned. "He fought that stranger who showed up."

She looked at Ben as she said it, as if testing for his reaction, and Poe got a creeping feeling that she knew more than she was letting on.

"Speaking of, what's the word from the police on that?" Holdo waited and then said, "And are you all right, dear? I know that was the second time you've been attacked. No one would blame you if you wanted to take a few days to recover."

Rey was quick to assure her. "I'm fine. And it's just like last time. I gave them a copy of my footage and left a statement. They have my number if they need to reach me again for any more questions. The guy who took my statement gave me the side-eye for talking with Kylo again, but otherwise it was standard fare stuff."

"And the other two who were there?" Holdo pressed. "If you have footage of Kylo Ren's mysterious attackers that might help cement our case and prove his existence."

Rey made a face. "I… don't know if that's such a good idea. I made sure the police got a copy from a USB I made, but they've been inundated with videos - some fake, some real, but none of them stay in circulation for long." She tapped her knee with one hand in nervous agitation. "I think the two other people from last night are involved, even though I can't prove it. One might be his sidekick."

From the corner of his eyes, Poe saw Rose roll her eyes, but otherwise maintain her composure.

"And you have no way of getting in contact with him?" Holdo asked. "Maybe so we can clear up some misgivings we might have? Get an exclusive interview? Something to prove that he exists and isn't just a fabrication?"

"I had an email, but I think he must have deactivated it. He's real, but..." Rey looked to Ben again. He was staring out the window with a far-off look. "But he didn't stick around for long, once the fight was over and done with. Just long enough to make sure I was safe." Her voice softened. "He seemed concerned. I've gotten the impression he's… kind. Well-meaning."

Holdo sat back in her chair with a self-satisfied sigh. "Well then, I guess you're all going on a trip to Naboo to find out more about our mysterious hero." She looked to Ben with a thin smile. "Unless you have any objections, Benjamin."

...did she know?

For a moment, Poe considered the idea that everyone in the room might know Ben's secret identity. Unless they didn't, and he was just reading into things.

This secret identity thing was a pain in the ass, and had Poe jumping at shadows. He just hoped Finn would be okay without him around. His boyfriend's threshold had been tested in recent weeks, and with the revelation of how his superiors were treating him, Poe found himself a lot more appreciative of the light-hearted times they had.

Ben turned away from the windows and shook his head.

* * *

They arrived later than expected.

Just before 11 PM, the three of them piled out of the car and found themselves under the cool cloudless night sky of middle-of-nowhere, Naboo. They were drained to the point of grunts and mutters instead of proper sentences, but they greeted Leia with the requisite gratitude for putting them up through the week.

Something about the lack of streetlights and absolute darkness welcomed him home.

Ben was too tired to consider how weird it was to have his family and personal-slash-work life merge as he slumped against the nostalgic formica kitchen countertop with his arms crossed. He readied himself for the oncoming well-meaning lecture he was convinced his mother would want to give. Leia Organa wasn't the type of woman who'd wait until breakfast to demand an explanation for why he was running around Hosnia, impersonating his not-so-imaginary childhood hero.

Poe had sent her a quick  _hello_  before vanishing upstairs toward the guest bedrooms, probably wanting to miss the oncoming storm that was brewing. Rey was none the wiser, but she could read the room. Ben murmured a goodnight to her, wishing they'd had a spare minute or two to talk alone, and she left as soon as Leia told her which room to take.

Third door on the right.

His heart skipped a beat when he realized which room she'd been sent to.

And then it was just him and his mother, standing silently in the old kitchen. With his friend-shaped shields gone, Ben had to swallow the sour fear that'd been building in his throat since he learned of this assignment.

All five-foot-one of her turned and glared at him, and Ben shrank back and tried to disappear into the counter he was leaning against. Of course, she'd been polite and thrilled to see the others (at least, as polite and thrilled as a morning person could be at eleven o'clock at night, after she'd already taken her hair down from its usual braid), but the second she heard the rattle and clack of bedroom doors closing, that demeanor disappeared.

"Why didn't you tell me? And  _why_  haven't you returned my calls?"

Her voice was scratchy, and he realized that she seemed thinner than the last time he'd seen her. The guilt bubbling over in his stomach reminded him she had a tendency to overwork herself with worry..

"I'm sorry," he said, because admitting he was wrong was always a good way to start a conversation. "I knew you'd be mad, and I just-"

Ben stopped mid-sentence as she rolled her eyes and muttered something like  _my idiot son_. It took him a moment to realize that wasn't annoyance dispersing through her emotions like rain along the shore. It was relief.

Then she let out a laugh. "I'm not mad, Ben. I was worried when I saw the news, but not  _mad_. Well, that's not true. I'm not mad about you being Kylo Ren, but I  _am_  annoyed that it took a crashed spaceship to get you here."

He took in a breath and glanced around the room, avoiding her eyes.

And that - just looking around, and all the pain it brought -  _that_  was why he hadn't been home in years.  _That_  was why he made a point to always meet his mother halfway for regular lunches, why he always suggested they take vacations elsewhere over holidays.

The house was haunted.

Haunted by the ghost of a man whose love had never left -  _could_  never leave, because it was peppered all over every room, and all over the house itself. Every wall had a picture of him, every bit of antique furniture had a repair made by his hands, every room had a memory, and it all tore at Ben.

There was no psychic imprint. No little thing that his extra senses picked up on. They were just memories - simple, true memories he couldn't forget, even if he wanted to.

All about a man who'd left sooner than he should have.

His mother looked at him like she knew the contents of his heart inside and out. Like  _she_  was the empath, of the two of them.

"It hurts, being here," Ben admitted. He looked away, feeling ashamed. She'd lost someone that day, too. "I'm sorry."

"Like I've always said, Ben, don't apologize for your feelings. They're yours and that makes them the most precious thing you have." Her smile turned bitter as she grabbed a glass from the sink and filled it up with water. He accepted the proffered glass and tried to focus on the taste of the well water instead of the near silent settling noises of a house without Han.

"I know." He let out a breath, and felt something in him release with it. Bizarre new alter-ego or not, he was home. "He used to say the same thing."

"Where do you think I learned it from?" His mother nodded in understanding, and wrapped her shawl around her shoulders. "I don't need to read your mind to know it hurts you to be here. Why do you think I put Rey in your old room and made up a guest room for you?" Her expression softened, and she sighed, walked toward him, and grasped his hands. "I know you miss him, Ben. I do, too. But it's been almost fifteen years. Don't you think it's time we stopped mourning and started living?"

Ben swallowed, blinking away moisture. "This…" he huffed, "Maybe this is a little too much for eleven o'clock."

"Maybe," she agreed. "But before you go to bed, I have something I wanted to give you while the others aren't around."

His curiosity piqued, Ben tilted his head and watched as she walked over to a box that sat on the little dining room table.

The dining room table that…

_He was seven, sick with a cold and bored because school had been cancelled for the third day in a row for snow, but his father only grinned and got that devilish look in his eyes that promised they'd have fun as soon as his mother trudged out into the weather and left for work._

_As soon as she'd left, they'd-_

"Stop that," a voice chided. Ben looked up to see his mother smiling sadly. "I can always tell when you're lost in a memory."

"It was that time we made a volcano."

Leia groaned. "I still don't know what your father did to get the lava to hit the ceiling."

Ben glanced up, expecting to see the stain still there, even though he knew it'd been cleaned spotless after that mess.

She shook her head, laughing to herself, and walked back to him, box in hands. It was the size of a large sweater box made of an unfamiliar material that was opaque and firmer than cardboard.

Before she handed it to him, she hesitated, only for a second. The creak of a staircase that only he could hear and a old, aged, sigh of a house in the breeze punctuated the silence.

"It was your father's," Leia explained. She ran a hand down the cover, memories alight in her voice. "Well, no, that's not quite right." With a shaky breath, she corrected herself. "It was...  _Kylo Ren's_. Once he decided to stay, he didn't put it back on. Just boxed it up and told me you'd need it someday."

Ben wasn't sure what to react to first. "You knew, then? You knew all those stories were true?"

The words weren't accusatory, only confirming, and she nodded.

"He never tried to hide it," Leia said. "Always said it was too much work. And even if I didn't think he was insane, he wasn't subtle. Did you know on our first date he took me to see the worldshaper mountains of Alderaan? It seemed like that man could cross star systems in a heartbeat, break new ground for the human race, and it was still just a Tuesday for him." Her voice choked on the last set of words and then she changed the subject. "You know, you believed it all - every story - until you went to school and told all your classmates about your dad, the hero from Corellia, leader of the Knights of Ren."

"They laughed at me," he snorted. "I just assumed they were right."

She sighed again, smiling as she leaned against the counter next to him. "Most kids would do the same thing. Your father didn't mind it. He knew it was only a matter of time before you found out the truth and believed again."

They stood in comfortable silence, both remembering the man who still had bits of their hearts, until Ben murmured, "I wish he was here. I wish I could tell him I know the truth."

Brown eyes that mirrored his flashed up at him. "I do too, Ben. But he doesn't need to be here to know. I'm not sure why," she gestured to the box, "but he was convinced you'd need that someday. I'm not sure how, but he knew."

Patting his arm, she said, "Go get some sleep, son. We can talk more tomorrow."

Ben nodded, but his eyes locked onto the box she'd handed him.

* * *

Once she'd established that the conversation that was taking place in the kitchen was very much a private one, Rey had spent no less than ten minutes investigating the room Leia had told her to stay in. She also made a mental note to ask for as many embarrassing childhood stories as she could get from the woman.

A Star Trek poster - one for the original TV show - was the giveaway. This was no ordinary guest room. It had been remade into one, with a Queen bed made with neutral tones, a comfortable-looking deep blue armchair, and plain cream curtains. In almost every way, it was obviously a guest room.

Except for the Star Trek poster.

As she looked more closely, she made a few other discoveries - a small collection of sci-fi books ( _A Wrinkle In Time_  seemed to be the most loved), a little light that projected stars all around the room, and -  _adorably -_ a framed photo of a handsome, messy haired man, napping on a couch, with a tiny black-haired toddler fast asleep on top of him.

Just as her heart was about to burst from the sweetness of it all, there was a clamor above her, on the roof.

"Little too early for Santa, isn't it?" Rey joked to herself. Curiosity got the best of her, though, and she slid open a window, finding that it was a dormer, and she - with some luck and balance - could climb out onto the room.

Before she could second-guess what was almost assuredly a terrible decision, Rey slid the screen up, too, and climbed out, gripping the side of the window frame for dear life. The roof sloped gradually, and she narrowed her eyes, setting her gaze on the cause of the noise - a human-shaped figure, sitting just a few feet away from her.

Keeping tight to the shingled surface, Rey climbed up, and hands shot out in the dark to steady her - one grasping her hand, and the other, her waist. She almost fell back from the surprise of it, but lurched forward instead.

He - and really, she wasn't enough of an idiot to have any doubts as to who it was - let out a yelp. "Careful, we're on a roof!"

"As if I didn't notice!" The noise she made as she fell sideways into his lap was, much to her embarrassment, basically a squeak.

His arms wrapped around her waist and held on tight, as if he was afraid she was about to slide down the roof and fall, but the moment she relaxed into him, he hummed. "To what do I owe the pleasure, Ms. Johnson? When I offered an interview, I thought we'd have separate chairs."

Rey paused and quirked an eyebrow at him - at the moron who thought his disguise would fool an investigative reporter. At least tonight it seemed he had a proper uniform, though she couldn't see it well in the dark. As far as she could tell, it was black, and much more fitted than his usual hoodie.

Mostly she was just amused that he thought he could show up on his mother's roof while she was there and still keep his identity a secret.

Seconds before she dove into calling him out for it, Rey hesitated, and decided to have fun.

She looped her arms around his neck and grinned up at him. "Oh,  _Kylo Ren_ , I should have known you'd be here. I'm glad to see you."

"Y- you are?"

"Very."

His gulp was audible, and he was quiet for a moment before he let out a little laugh. "You know, you should be careful with that crush. It could put you in danger."

"Crush?" she asked, acting oblivious. She fluttered her eyelashes. "How'd you know?"

“Superhearing," he mumbled.

Rey scoffed. "Sorry, you can  _hear_  my crush?"

"No, but I can hear your heartbeat. And when I get close…" She turned her head toward him and found herself barely an inch from his mouth. He leaned in a fraction further and whispered, "When I get close, your heart starts pounding."

"Ben…"

Hearing his name seemed to be like dousing him in cold water, and he jerked back. "Right.  _Right_. You're uh, with someone. That coworker, right? Good, that's good. He sounds nice, and I'm all  _dark broody Knight_  - Batman without all the money - so that Ben guy is a much better-"

Rey burst out laughing, her head falling back while she gave herself over to full-uncontrollable belly-laughs.

"I- what? Is it something I said?"

"You- you are  _ridiculous_ ," she gasped. " _Dark broody Knight_ ,  _Batman without the money._ Oh,  _please_  tell me Poe knows so I can tell him about this and we can give you crap about it forever."

When he didn't respond, Rey caught her breath and grinned up at him. Even in the dim starlight she could see him frowning.

"I think I've missed something," he sighed.

Rey rolled her eyes and slid her arms from around his neck to cup his face, and she tugged him down to her. "Let me clear it up," she murmured, just before pressing her lips to his. His surprise was clear, and he didn't move until she pulled back and whispered, "Ben, kiss me."

He let out a shuddering breath, and then tightened his arms around her, capturing her mouth with something overwhelming and dizzying… something that could hardly be called a kiss, because kisses weren't like this. Kisses weren't something she felt all the way down her spine and to her toes. Ben cradled her head, sliding his tongue along hers until she felt lightheaded, and she sighed into him, relaxing against his chest as she pulled his black hood back and let her fingers wander into his hair.

When they split away, he nuzzled his nose against hers, and asked, "How'd you figure it out?"

Maybe if she hadn't been feeling so stupidly giddy, Rey would have snarked back at him for thinking he was subtle with his secret identity, but she was on a rooftop under a beautiful night sky, being held and kissed by the someone she'd never guessed would want to kiss her - or, maybe, by the one person she should have realized  _would_.

"A lot of little clues. Lots of coincidences that added up. That, and I went downstairs earlier for a glass of water and heard your mother say you were Kylo Ren."

It was almost like he wanted her to figure it out, especially if he should've heard her coming down the stairs.

Ben stiffened at her mention of the conversation. "How much did you hear?"

"None past that," she shrugged. "It confirmed what I already thought I knew, but I didn't want to intrude or eavesdrop, so I went back to my room."

"My room, technically."

Rey hummed. "Yeah, I thought maybe it was. Don't you want to stay in it? We can swap."

Though, part of her was keen on sharing, but she kept that to herself.

Ben shook his head and pressed his lips to her forehead. "Thanks," he breathed. "But no. Too many memories."

"Anything you want to talk about?"

Hesitation flickered over his expression (he didn't even wear a domino mask, how had he not been caught yet?), and then he went back to his usual blunt self. "I'd rather kiss you again."

"You flirt better than I'd expected for such a nerd," she laughed. Moving into a more comfortable position, she straddled his thighs, not missing how he swallowed at the change. His grip slid a little lower, just below her waist, and he held her securely, leaning in toward her. "But as much as I enjoy kissing you, don't think we aren't discussing this superhero thing, because-"

Ben came the rest of the way, shutting her up with soft, insistent lips, and she sighed and rested against his chest, dismissing her split-second thought that he'd probably try to interrupt her with this method more often.

But instead of worrying about their guaranteed drop in work-related productivity, she slid her mouth over his, sucking and biting at his mouth as she surrendered to the overwhelming, wonderful feeling.

He moved slightly and peppered kisses along her jaw, murmuring against her skin. "How long have you known?"

"Not long, but I should have suspected something when  _Kylo Ren_  almost kissed me on that rooftop," she admitted.

Ben let out a low chuckle, and she shivered at the feeling of it against her neck. "I think I needed the extra courage to flirt with you."

"Oh?"

"Mm." He pulled her closer, until their chests were pressed firmly together, and he reached up, cupping her face. "I'm really glad you know, Rey."

She glanced up to meet his eyes, and her breath caught at the soft, affectionate expression he wore. There was something in that expression, something she was sure was reflected in hers.

"It's okay, I feel it, too," he breathed. Before she could stop to ask what that meant, his lips met hers again, gentle and slow, and she stopped trying to pretend she didn't know exactly what he was saying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	12. Black Smoke Rising

They stayed on the roof for a little longer until Rey tired of him fussing about being careful and she suggested they move elsewhere. Neither of them were ready to head inside.

That would mean saying goodnight, or one of them staying in the other's bedroom, and their hesitation at that stayed unspoken. The safe middle ground was a flat, grassy spot in Leia's backyard that stretched out from the house like a dark sea, broken only by the occasional bush or tree.

Both on their backs, they stared up at the stars - bright pinpoints in a tapestry of cobalt that shined brighter and clearer than she'd ever seen in the city.

He was the first to break the silence. "This is how I fell asleep every night when I was a kid."

"In a field?"

He huffed a laugh. "No."

Ben maneuvered closer, gesturing for her to tuck in next to him. As beautiful as the stars were, they weren't going anywhere. They were immortal, immovable, untouchable, but the moment felt fleeting, so she rolled into him, resting her head on his chest. She closed her eyes as his arm wrapped around her, and she played with the sleeve of his shirt, tugging at it and running her thumb along its hem.

"No," he said again, pressing a kiss to the top of her forehead. "Every night I fell asleep looking at the stars, until I was about fifteen. Not the real ones. I had a star lamp."

"Oh, I saw that. It's sweet."

He hummed, the vibrations moving from his body to hers, sinking down in a soporific slurry. The only other sounds were chirping and clicking noises, and the audible silence Rey guessed she'd never find anywhere near a city like Hosnia.

"Hey, Ben?" Her voice was low and hushed to not break the spell. "If you don't mind telling me, how long have you had these abilities? Was it recent, when you started going by Kylo Ren?"

Was she so close that she could hear his pulse stutter, or was that just her imagination? Either way, it was a few seconds of drawn silence until he answered.

"Longer."

When he didn't explain further, she didn't pry.

Minutes later, when her eyes were drifting and lolling behind closed lids, he sighed. "I think I've had them since I was a teenager. I was always stronger than other kids my age, but just before my fifteenth birthday something happened." He swallowed thickly. "That's when I got them."

"Lightning strike?" she teased. "Nuclear reactor explosion? Magical ring?"

When he didn't respond, she deadpanned, trying to lighten the mood. "Tell me it wasn't a spider bite. Not that I have anything against-"

"My dad died," Ben whispered, dousing the warmth building in her cheeks. "It was a car crash. We were in the car together, and I don't know what happened, but that's  _when_  it happened. I guess it's called a mantle, like a mantle of power? And… now I know he used to have it. He was Kylo Ren before me, but I think somehow the mantle picked me that day, over him."

There was so much to unpack in those words, but all she could hear was the raw emotion bleeding through every syllable. He continued, the words flowing out as though he'd desperately needed to speak them, and Rey did the only thing she could - listen.

"I couldn't figure out how I walked away from it. Nobody could. But then I stood next to my mother, at his funeral and I felt everything," he breathed. "Remember what that droid said? About empathic abilities?"

Rey nodded against his chest, feeling the thunder under his skin.

"I can  _feel_  things. I can tell when someone's having a bad day just by walking into the same room as them. People's emotions, especially the intense ones… it's like standing in the middle of a hurricane. I felt my mom's heart break at his funeral. And then a week later I went back to school, and I thought maybe I was feeling all of that because I was upset, but the closer and closer the school bus got to town, the louder the feelings got."

It was like something was sitting on her chest, getting heavier the longer he talked.

"I didn't know," she said. The words were inadequate to express her sorrow, but she couldn't think of anything else to say. "I'm so sorry. I wouldn't have joked about it."

"I know," Ben nodded. He pulled her closer, and rolled to face her so he could wrap both arms around her, then explained, "That day, when he died, it was like all my abilities - the extra strength and speed I'd had as a kid - multiplied a thousand. Maybe I would have been ready for it, if he'd lived, but when the empathic senses manifested I just..." He stopped, and then didn't say anymore, as if unsure of where he was going with the sentence.

"And that's all because of the mantle?"

"Kylo Ren's mantle, yeah."

She took a deep breath and considered it. All she could think to say was, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay." He tilted his head down and kissed her softly. "I just wish - if it's a sentient thing, I could ask... why  _me?_  Every day I wish it'd picked him because  _Rey,_ he was a hero. A real, honest-to-God hero. He didn't just save a handful of people - he saved  _planets_."

Something twisted in her chest when his voice broke. "I grew up with him telling me all these stories about Kylo Ren and- and this stupid mantle picked  _me_  over  _him?_  And, the idea that I'm a hero just because I took on his name." He let out a cynical chuckle. "It's laughable. I could never be him, even if I tried. I'll  _never_  live up to that."

He paused and touched his forehead to hers. "Sorry. I can feel you, y'know. I didn't mean to make you feel so sad."

She was struck by how, for all his power - for all the advantages he had at his disposal - he still failed to recognize the obvious.

"That's not sadness, Ben," she whispered. "It's heartache. It's me, wishing I knew how to take that pain away."

Something in his gaze softened, and he lifted one arm from around her waist to cup her face, just before he caught her mouth again. It was gentle, but full of promise, and Rey went slack in his grasp, sinking into his kiss.

They stayed there long enough to drift off to sleep under the stars.

* * *

Poe was almost concerned when he came down the stairs the next morning and found Leia, sitting patiently at the kitchen table with a fresh paper and fresher coffee, and no sign of Ben or Rey.

"They're outside," Leia said, without looking up from her paper. She looked much like how Poe thought of her: as someone who'd seen too much of the world to be surprised by young people, including her own kid. "Coffee's on the pot, but depending on how quick you kids want to get things done, you might want to skip breakfast."

And sure enough, there they were, outside on the lawn, cuddled up like they'd stepped out of a hallmark movie. Poe took a picture and sent it to both their phones, for posterity.

He toed the bottom of Rey's sneakers with his own and she groaned, opening her eyes to blink at the rising sun.

"Wha'? Poe?" she mumbled. "What happened?"

She looked like she wanted nothing more than to burrow into the chest of the man whose arms she was still in, but a quick nudge of Ben's foot started to rouse him, too.

The man cracked his eyes open, yawned the yawn of the undead, and then, heedless of Poe's presence, raised his head to plant a dandelion soft kiss atop Rey's brow.

And as much as Poe was enjoying this, he was afraid of developing diabetes with the exposure to so much saccharine sweetness exuding from the pair, so it was with great regret that he cleared his throat.

They both froze.

"Not that I'm not thrilled that you've both stopped being morons," Poe laughed, "But Leia sent me out here to find you guys."

"She did?" Rey said, still catching up to consciousness.

"Mmm, she also said that the next time you have your world-shaking conversations regarding superhero identities, it should be somewhere  _other_  than right outside her open bedroom window."

Ben opened his mouth, and a strangled noise escaped.

Poe rolled his eyes. "Come on, you can catch me up over breakfast."

Breakfast was a peaceful affair, though Poe had to hold himself back from crowing to the skies about how he'd known Ben had been itching to reveal his identity to Rey. They didn't have long enough for that, though. Not if they wanted to get ahead of the investigation, and so they all left after Ben and Rey changed into clothes that hadn't spent the night on the ground.

Leia's house wasn't far from town, but with the cloudy forecast on the horizon, they all elected to take Rey's Volkswagen, just in case a surprise shower caught them off guard.

"So I take it weather control isn't one of your powers?" Rey asked as she pulled out of Leia's driveway. She leaned forward in her seat and squinted, trying to find the turn they'd taken the night before amongst the brush and foliage.

"That's not how it works," Ben answered in a drawl. He jerked his head at the road. "Turn left when you see the apple tree. It should take you out onto the main road in half a mile."

"How do they work then? Is there a command phrase or are you always just supernaturally strong?"

"More of the latter than the former," he mused. "I've always been different, a little faster, a little stronger." Looking down at his palms, he opened and closed them deliberately. "I'm not sure how strong I am, though. I've never been able to measure it without getting thrown across town and risking exposure."

"What do you mean?"

Poe saddled forward, pulling at the seatbelt and he propped his elbow against the passenger seat. "Benny boy here is still subject to the laws of physics. I remember he tried punching across an empty field once with all his strength, and the guy flattened half the field with the air pressure and got flung across the other half because he can't anchor himself down."

"Sounds like you two've experimented."

"We've dabbled," Poe said with a nod. He noticed the pout forming on Ben's face. "What?"

"You are the worst confidant ever," Ben deadpanned. "What happened to keeping my secrets?"

"That was before I found out you did everything short of actually telling her yourself. I'm just filling her in on the stuff you've forgotten to mention between your makeout sessions," Poe retorted. "Besides, I haven't told her anything you haven't already done in public anyway."

Rey chimed in. "He's right, you know. The internet's got a pretty good idea of what your power set is like just from that first video, before it got taken down. Super speed, super strength, enhanced reflexes, internal and external invulnerability, Wolverine-ish senses, along with all the minor superpowers. You know, standard flying brick stuff, without the flying." She paused and asked, "You can't actually fly, can you? You're not just really bad at controlling that yet?"

"Trust me, things would be a lot easier if I could fly."

"You ever going to tell me about those two from the other night?"

"As soon as I learn more about them? Yeah." Ben closed his eyes and let out a sigh. "But if you need a name, they're called the Knights of Ren."

A stilted moment passed between them, and Poe watched the two of them once again forget he was in the car with them.

"Any relation?" she asked.

"Still figuring that part out."

Tall flora on both sides of the road evened out to ankle nipping grass speckled with the occasional valley oak dotting the scenery. Power lines and a cell tower in the distance joined them, and with their advent came the dregs of civilization, first in the form of a diner and a gas station, finally giving way to the usual trappings of a town amidst fallow farmland.

"Mom said the ship landed somewhere in the direction of the quarry," Ben muttered, glancing outside the window with a frown. They reached an intersection and turned onto it. "It's been in disuse for years, so if we see anyone there we'll know there's some truth to what she said."

"Your mom doesn't strike me as the type of person to just make this stuff up," Rey said, sparing him a concerned look. "Everything okay?"

He stayed quiet.

"Ben?"

He kept staring out the window, half a million miles away for all he was paying attention.

Poe did his best friend duty and thumped him along the shoulder. It was like hitting a slab of granite in a white button-up, but Ben jerked and twisted in his seat, dragging the seatbelt with him and almost ripped the mechanism from its spot along the interior wall of the car.

"Sorry," he mumbled. He'd turned three shades paler since he'd last spoken. "Just distracted."

Rey and Poe exchanged a concerned look. "Anything we should know about?" Rey asked.

"No, it was just my imagination." Ben shook his head. "For a moment I thought I heard something out there. An animal or something."

"We  _are_  pretty removed from civilization out here," Poe pointed out. "And we saw plenty of deer on the ride. Might've been one of those."

"Maybe," he agreed, even if his tone of voice told Poe he believed otherwise. "I've never heard anything like that, though." He swallowed and turned to face the two of them again. "Sorry, forget about it. I think being home is just freaking me out a little."

"Bad memories?" Rey murmured, her sympathy clear.

Poe, who knew the reason, wisely kept quiet. As much as he'd volunteered about Ben's powers, he wouldn't blab about his friend's real problems.

"More like not enough memories. Especially ones that matter."

They stopped speaking until they got to the quarry. Poe could see what he meant by the place being in disuse. He'd always be a city kid at heart, but it was like the land and life in the area had turned solemn with respect to the empty hole in the earth. The road grew impressions and indentations as they moved from asphalt to packed red dirt.

Gray and cinder mounds ascended in the distance like geological giants waking from slumber, and the land lay prostrate for miles as they reached their destination.

Ben got more and more tense as they approached, a slim steel rod of rigidity slitting in between his shoulders, resulting in him sitting up straighter in his seat and staring with fierce intent out at the quarry.

"There are people here."

Rey didn't even bother to disguise a fist pump and then gave him a side glance. "You don't have X-ray vision, do you?"

A slow feline grin was Ben's only response.

She slapped his shoulder in admonishment, sending the car swerving off the side of the road and nearly into a ditch before she over-corrected, jerking the steering wheel in the opposite direction, all to the tune of the Ben's basso chuckles.

"You're going to be the death of me," she said, once she guided the car back to the road. She glanced at Ben and once again Poe wondered if he was the third wheel. "Ben Solo, fire lane 34, with his X-ray vision."

"Would it be such a bad way to go?" Ben asked. He shifted in his seat, and then, about as subtle as a foghorn, rolled his sleeves up and crossed his arms.

It was getting ridiculous. Poe had nothing against a good flirting session, but they had things to do, and  _getting laid_  didn't make the check-list.

Decision made, he grabbed both seats and pulled himself forward so he was aligned with his coworkers, breaking both their lines of sight with each other. " _So_ about that spaceship?"

They recovered admirably. He watched with undisguised amusement as both Rey's hands fused with the steering wheel and her face gained the healthy blush of a day in the sun, while Ben tried to be surreptitious about rolling his sleeves back down.

He gave them a minute to compose themselves, but he could see a shape forming in the distance - some sort of gate arm or perimeter.

"What are we going to do about  _that?"_

"Know anything that might help us, Ben?" Rey asked, falling into the familiar role of a journalist.

He shook his head. "It's called a Millenium Falcon. Not  _the_ Millenium Falcon, but I think it's got some sort of cloaking tech that should keep it safe from radar and stuff." He paused and then rolled down the windows a crack. He sniffed, and then mumbled, "I don't think that'll do it any good now."

The car slowed as they approached the gate. "Why's that?" Rey asked.

"Because, stealth or cloaking won't cover up  _that_."

_That_ became clear as they crested the top of the hill that fed into the basin of the Naboo quarry. Normal quarries were usually large open pits, with a circling road and levels that led down to the bottom, which were prone to flooding. Interspersed on the levels were openings in the wall - mine openings for mineral extraction. Most were boarded up, but some at the bottom had been left open, derelict in light of the careful sequestration of the other openings.

Ben was pointing at the deep gouging trench that reached from one end of the quarry. The trench wrenched itself along a path of destruction mottled with overturned excavation equipment and dune blasts along its flanks. It was worryingly deep, especially considering the strata the quarry stopped at.

"Holy shit," Rey breathed, seeing the chaos. "It really crashed here. Is there even going to be anything left?"

"Probably," he answered, voice grim. "It- she- they're a lot more durable than anything I've ever seen. I saw the ship get flipped upside down and all it did was dent some metal. Their technology isn't like anything we've got." He looked outside his passenger window before he turned back to them. "We've got company."

The gate arm, which was still lowered, had an accompanying watch station - a small booth the size of a phone box. Poe watched as a man dressed in a suit that shouldn't have come within a mile of this place meandered out, a clipboard under one arm and fixing a hard-hat on his head with the other.

The man came up to the car, walking at a relaxed pace, almost on purpose. He tapped on their window and brought out his clipboard.

"Morning," the man nodded, once Rey rolled down the window. He had a pockmarked face and had a slouch to his shoulders that implied desk duty instead of field work. "I'm afraid you're in a restricted area. You'll have to turn around."

Ben narrowed his eyes at the man. "What happened here?"

"Gas explosion. Shook the whole town up, from what we hear. We got the call and came to take a look to make sure it wasn't indicative of anything else."

"Gas explosion," Rey repeated, tone oblique. "That's funny. It looks like something crash landed."

The man chuckled in a good-natured manner, and Poe felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He turned to look outside the rear passenger window but saw nothing except empty flatland and patches of snap grass nipping at the road.

"I suppose you're one of those folks who thought they saw a spaceship fall across the sky a couple days ago," the man huffed, still the picture of geniality. "I assure you, we haven't found anything like that here. Just a lot of rocks." His smile flattened as he fixed them all with a  _look._ "Don't suppose you could tell me how you found out about this place? That license plate isn't local."

Ben reached across and grabbed Rey's hand. "We're just here visiting. Got in last night and I thought I'd show my girlfriend where I used to play with my friends."

"Really?" The man looked around at the area and turned back to them, unimpressed. "Seems out of the way for a bunch of kids to come romping around. Dangerous, too."

"That never stopped us from chucking rocks at each other," Ben answered. "There's not a lot to do around here. We had to find trouble where we could."

The guard harrumphed in disapproval. It sounded like the wet sneeze from an elephant. "Son, trust me, trouble has a way of finding you if you wait long enough."

The man turned his gimlet stare on Ben, who remained unfazed. "What did you say your name was again?"

"I didn't." There was an awkward tense moment as Ben seemed to mull over his words before he then said, "Ben Solo, Leia Organa's son. She lives out in Alda field."

The guard's eyes narrowed.

Rey laid her arm against the open window, catching the man's attention as she shifted her position, breaking the locked stares. "Any way we can take a look? I was hoping to take pictures. I'm an amateur photographer and I've heard the views here-"

The guard's smile returned, this time with a cynical arc in his cheek. "This place is off-limits, at least until we determine what the hell happened. You're not the first rubberneckers to come 'round-"

"I thought you said it was a gas explosion." She still had a full grip on the wheel with one hand, but she tapped the rim with her index finger, impatient.

The man rolled his eyes. Poe kept quiet, even if seeing him talk down to Rey pissed him off. Confronting the man wouldn't do anything. Instead, he stared out at the crash site, drinking in as many details as he could, committing as much as he could to memory.

"There are many kinds of explosions," the guard said. The veneer of civility was still there, but just barely. "Some old vents got uncovered and one thing led to another. We're just lucky it wasn't closer to town."

"Yeah. Lucky," she agreed. "Say, who'd you say you guys are again?"

The man produced a compact wallet from his breast pocket and flipped it open.

"Oh wow, I didn't know the FBI got involved in gas explosions out in the middle of nowhere," Rey said, playing up the ingenue act to the point of parody.

"No comment," the now-identified agent muttered, dropping all pretence of guarding anything prosaic. His face relaxed into something stolid and void of expression. "But I would be interested to hear how you found out about this place, Ms. Johnson."

Ben looked like he was going to say something but he calmed when Rey placed her hand on his knee. She turned back to the agent outside the car and said, wryly, "What, am I famous?"

The agent's smile was thin and amused. "Or connected to someone who is. Even if you don't know it."

"Kylo Ren isn't dangerous," she asserted.

"No comment," The man shook his head. "Get outta' here, Johnson. Try reaching out via the proper channels."

"Can you at least tell me if there was a spaceship?" Rey asked, even though she already knew the answer. She was testing him, probing the man.

"No comment." He lifted the lip of his lapel and spoke into a microphone receiver the size of a pebble. "Get the sheriff on the line, would you? I've got some folks loitering around the entrance and refusing to leave. They're blocking traffic on the road."

Poe turned in his seat, looking out the cramped and scrunched rear view of the Beetle. Sure enough, another van was behind them, tinted windows and onyx paint job rendering it a blotted splotch on the natural canvas around them.

"Rey," Poe spoke up, "We should leave."

"You're hiding something," she said to the agent.

" _No comment."_

Ben sighed. "He won't answer."

Rey stared at the man outside, but he stepped away, still speaking into his lapel with the low recitation of someone following procedure and doing their job. A consummate professional. Outside the car, the heavy silence was oppressive, wrapping around them like a smothering pillow.

"Come on," Ben coaxed. He wasn't looking at the agent or at the quarry, but beyond them. There was a sharp, hunted look to his eyes, as if he could sense something they couldn't.

Poe suddenly didn't want to be out there, alone except for a bunch of agents who had no clue what they were getting into.

Finally, Rey stopped bothering to try to get the man's permission by sheer force of will. She pulled a slow twelve point turn and, when they were finally facing away from the mysterious operation going on at the quarry, revved away with a jerk, as if the car was propulsed by sheer irritation.

* * *

By the time they got into town, Rey had cooled down. Ben kept any comments regarding the situation at the quarry and the deliberate rebuff they'd gotten to himself. Instead, he and Poe filled the silence with the idle chatter about Naboo. How many people in his graduating class, who stuck around after graduation, all the trouble he'd gotten into whenever he was young…

It wasn't fury she was broadcasting. Ben was familiar enough with the scalding sensation of her anger to know.

It wasn't Ben who broached the topic, but Poe.

"So, you going to tell us why you did your best Mulder impersonation back there?"

It was a blunt but lighthearted way addressing it.

Rey pulled into one of the many empty parking spots of a lot outside Ben's uncle's diner and rested her head against the wheel. There were only two other cars in the lot. An old beat up Ford that Ben recognized as his uncle Luke's, and a sleeker, shinier car that stood in stark contrast to the other vehicle.

"Sorry," she said, her voice muffled. "It wasn't anything to do with him. I just don't like people talking down to me. Makes me want to punch something in the face."

"Yeah, but as soon as he mentioned you being connected, it's like you were picking a fight."

A strange, dark merriment knocked against Ben's empathic senses, and he immediately understood.

"You  _were_  picking a fight," he breathed, astonished.

"I was hoping to get him to slip up," Rey admitted. She flipped down the sun visor and scrutinized her face in the tiny mirror. "He said he'd already sent people packing, but when he brought out his badge, I had a hunch and tried following up on it." She let out a breath of irritation and looked at Ben. "He probably expected it. He's being very diligent for something not very noteworthy up there. You have any idea what it's about? Do you think they already moved the ship?"

Rose had mentioned the Falcon having shields, and he remembered the faded scent of ozone and burnt earth from the quarry.

Ben shook his head. "I don't think they ever had it. As far as I know, Falcons are designed to handle those kinds of crashes. The Knights got in a lot of scrapes and they-"

His voice hitched as he remembered the words his dad had used to describe the ship.

" _By the stars, Ben, that ol' girl could run through asteroid belts with half a dozen armadas on her tail and she'd still have enough trouble to spare!"_

Someone was shaking him.

"Ben?" she asked softly, "You with us?"

He blinked. The day seemed brighter, somehow. His sight seemed a little sharper. Sounds were a little clearer. The feel of the cloth of his shirt was a distracting thing against his skin. The warm, welcoming and accepting presence of his friends pierced through the cobweb of sensation that stuck to his mind like a second outfit.

"Sorry," he croaked. "Just got distracted. Where was I?"

"Something about the ship not getting taken," Poe offered, not asking why Ben had spaced out. As playful as he was, he knew when to leave well enough alone.

"Right, right." Ben tried to gather his thoughts. "The ship landed there. You saw the track marks. It probably crashed after my fight with Vara-"

"Who?" Rey prompted.

"The woman who kicked my ass and nearly killed you," Ben said, the frustration from that night bleeding through. "One of the Knights. Vara Ren."

She nodded and gestured for him to continue.

"Well, I think the ship landed there, but I don't think it stuck around. That ship had cannons mounted on it, and it smelled like someone had fired a thousand blaster bolts out of there."

"Smelled? Oh, right, super senses. That'll take some getting used to."

"He refuses to go to Vegas with me," Poe mentioned. "Says he can't stand the smell at the casinos. Too many carcinogens in the air."

It was more like he felt a peculiar kind of nausea when surrounded by so many artificially induced emotional states. Drugs, alcohol, and all the other vices in and around gambling centers wrecked havoc with his control of his empathic senses. The greed, lust, and effervescent emotional toil clung to him harder, like some sticky substance that refused to scrub off, and he always felt sick within the first ten minutes of getting near anything like that.

Ben avoided the financial offices and political buildings of Hosnia for much the same reason.

"Anyway," he said, forcing the conversation back on track. "The ship's gone, and I don't think those agents will find anything worthwhile. We'd be better off asking around town."

"You'd be surprised by what you can learn about something by looking at the hole they leave behind," Rey mused. "Take you, for example. All the official sources say you don't exist because there's no proof, but why is that? Because someone's cleaning up evidence, keeping you under wraps." She waited to let that sink in before the light of excitement fluttered behind her eyes, brushing against Ben's mind like an exuberant butterfly. "Wait, do  _you_ know who's going around getting rid of proof? Is it the Knights?"

"Uhhh." Ben and Poe shared looks of brief alarm.

Rey caught on. "You two know something," she gasped. "Spill."

Rose had been candid with them in the elevator about the secret identity thing, but Ben still didn't have a good grasp on whether she'd want Rey to know. His dad had never been clear on whether the Knights kept things quiet. Ben had just assumed and fallen into the hooded hero role.

"I can't say."

"You can't or you won't?"

Ben gave it some thought and then went with the honest answer. "Unclear."

She leaned in, and her eyes searched his expression. Ben couldn't help but let his gaze wander down to her lips. His scalp prickled with the all the subterfuge of an asteroid and he wondered if this was what falling to temptation felt like. Like fear, excitement, a little bit of surprise tinted with the expectation of the unknown and dangerous.

After a moment, Rey retracted, sitting back in her seat, and she grumbled, "I hate that you're someone I know."

Ben blinked at the non sequitur. "I'm… sorry?"

"Apology not accepted."

Ben just stared, feeling like he'd skipped the middle thirty minutes of a complicated time travel movie.

"Oh, I get it," Poe laughed. "You can't see him as Kylo Ren anymore, can you?"

Rey's expression of frustration turned into one of mutual commiserations. "Of course not. Kylo Ren was cool and mysterious. He was the guy I saw beat the ever-loving crap out of a trio of killer droids on livestream and he kept bursting out of burning buildings like he was posing for some demented fashion magazine."

She looked at Ben, askance. "You're that dorky, kind of an asshole coworker of mine who stole my stories. And now it's like… I can't treat you like a source, because I'm too close and I'm just thinking about how this might affect you."

"I- Thank you?"

"Don't thank me," she muttered. "I was planning on wringing all the information I could out of Kylo Ren but now I can't, because you're someone I like. I can't theorize about him and his motives, because he sits right across from me and I care about him, and I have this annoying thing called a conscience." She shot him a baleful glare. "How dare you?"

With a laugh, he asked, "I thought you've suspected who I was for a while?"

"Not a while," she corrected, "Just the last few days. When you're not running away, it's pretty easy to put things together. Not a smoking gun so much as a flamethrower."

That felt like a crack at his secret-keeping abilities, but Ben let it slide.

He smiled, resting a hand over hers, and something in him warmed when her eyes met his. Quietly, he asked, "So where do we go from here?"

"What if I called Finn?" Poe asked. They turned in their seats to look at him, and he shrugged. "What? If there are federal agents here, then they have to have come from somewhere, and maybe he knows something about it. They set up next door to the precinct, remember?"

"That's not a bad idea," Rey admitted, after a moment's thought. "He might be able to give us some details on how things are going after your fight with portal lady, Ben."

"Vara," he corrected. Vara of the Knights of Ren was a much more imposing title for someone to face. It was also one that now took on a different connotation.

_Crimson eyes of death. A hollow of emotion in the space she occupied. A puppet dancing to the tune of a Master as comfortable in darkness as darkness was wreathed in his soul._

He shuddered, caught in the memory once more. His dad had never mentioned it, but Ben had a feeling that the mantle of Kylo Ren had served well as a scout for the kinds of evil found only in the hearts of man.

And now one of those evils had come to Earth, searching for him.

They waited in relative silence as Poe called his boyfriend. There'd been no word from Finn in the two days since they'd last seen him, which was to be expected, especially with the new trail of destruction and chaos Ben had left of the sewers and Jeddha Park. He wondered if Rose would bother to hide his traces anymore, now that the Knights knew for sure that he was on Earth.

A lurch in his chest almost knocked him for a loop. Something hooked around his middle, and before he could even think anything of it, Ben unlocked the car and stepped out into the parking lot.

A pulsing reverb resounded in his ears at a pace as fast as a hummingbird's heartbeat and so low as to seem like continental drift. Ben gripped the hood of the car and ignored her surprised questions. The door closed gently in the light breeze, and the next sensation to get overwhelmed was his sense of smell. His nose burned as the wind carried the smell of foreign wood smoke weirdly intermingled with petrichor and an animalistic musk that any hunter or hunted would recognize.

_Thump thump thump_ went the heartbeat.  _Gnash, grind, rip_ went the human part of his brain, equating each pulse with something deadly and ancient.

A roiling, rippling realization washed over the area, and Ben's knees buckled.

Familiar. This feeling, caressing his empathic senses like a lion would its cub, was  _familiar._

He whirled around, ignoring the human sights, the human sounds, and tried to focus on the feeling, on the resonant beating in his chest that was trying to lead him to its source.

Resonance. That's what Rose had called it. He'd forgotten to ask her about that. Been too busy getting blown up.

Still, Ben knew enough to recognize that it meant a Knight was around.

If there was a Knight then he had to get Rey and Poe...

The feeling faded.

Ben recoiled from the sudden lack of overwhelming emotion and sensation. He'd broken out into a cold sweat and felt… tired. That feeling, that hook through his chest, had felt different from how it had been when Vara showed up. Then it had felt clinical, measured, but enchanting.

This had been fierce, wild, and immense in a way only time could capture.

And he knew what that meant.

_Bocid Ren_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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	13. Something Just Like This

At half-past six, after the sun had gone down for the night, Rey groaned and dropped on the pristine cream-colored sofa with navy blue throw pillows that sat against one wall of Leia's living room. She rested her head in her hands and her elbows on her knees, sighing as if she had a pounding headache, which she did.

"I can't believe we didn't find a single lead," she complained, to no one in particular.

Poe's chipper voice butted in as he took a seat next to her, splaying out on the couch as if he owned the place. "Oh, c'mon, lighten up. We found out about Naboo's reigning spelling-bee champion,  _may he never be defeated,"_ the man snarked, and winked. "I swear, half this town must know him."

"More, I think. Remember all those ladies fawning over him in the grocery store? ' _Look how tall you got, little Benny_ ,'" Rey echoed, trying to match their voices, "' _Oh, your ears just kept growing, didn't they?'"_

Poe laughed in a way that was far too lighthearted for how little progress they'd made.

They'd spent all day -  _all day_  - trolling around town, pretending to be visiting for a long weekend while slipping in questions about the 'weird, loud noise' in hopes that someone would know something. The odds of finding someone who had useful information on the crash landed ship were slim, Rey knew, but she'd at least hoped to find a lead she could follow up on. Something to keep them busy, even if it didn't pan out into anything useful.

Instead, they'd only learned that Ben had been an excellent speller, he'd always had large ears, and that many of the older women in town (and secretly, Rey loved this part) called him  _Benny_.

Cute, but not even remotely useful.

"Any word from Finn?"

Poe's shoulders dropped in a way that confirmed he knew they were done joking around. "Sounds like they've closed ranks around this thing. Finn said his own boss warned him off it, and whatever the guy said made Finn think we should back off. He..." Poe hesitated. "Look, Rey, I don't want to get between you two, but I think he's got a point. He might not have the full picture - he doesn't know we've got 'Kylo Ren' here with us, but I think he's right. We should leave this to the professionals."

"You're kidding, right?" When she looked over and saw him wince, then shake his head, Rey scoffed. "They have no idea what they're dealing with!"

"And we do?" Poe wiped a hand down his face. "Take a step back, and forget that you're trying to get a headline - just for a minute. In the last month, we've seen robots from another world, we've had a flying spaceship land in our city, we've had a superhero show up, and we've had aliens -  _literal aliens_  - come to our planet. Don't tell me any of us have a clue about what we're dealing with."

He let out a humorless laugh. "Even Ben… the dude's been hearing stories about these people his whole life, but don't let him fool you. He doesn't know what the hell's going on. We're all in over our heads here, Rey."

"So what are you suggesting?" she asked, leaning back on the couch. She crossed her arms over her chest. "What? Do we just sit on our hands and do nothing?"

"No," Poe answered tiredly. "No, that's not what I'm saying. I just mean that we need to be smart about this. I know you, and correct me if I'm wrong, but you want to rush in and demand they let us into that quarry, proper channels be damned, right? And I get it, I do, but this time that might  _actually_  get you killed."

Rey opened her mouth to argue, but a throat cleared and interrupted her. When she looked up, Ben was leaning against the doorway with his back to the kitchen, the concern and conflict clear on his expressive face. Poe quieted, letting out a breath.

Tensions were high - that she could admit - and by the look on Ben's face, she guessed he could feel it.

"Hey, Poe," he said softly, gesturing toward the kitchen. "Mind helping my mom for a minute? She could use another set of hands with the dishes."

Her friend reached over and left a friendly squeeze at her shoulder, and Rey's eyes met his. She managed a smile. Right or wrong, Poe had good intentions, and it was hard to be mad about that.

When Poe passed Ben, she heard Ben murmur his thanks, and then it was just the two of them.

They hadn't had more than a minute or two alone since waking up next to each other, and while that had only been about ten hours earlier, it felt like it'd been ages. Her heart leapt, despite how drained she felt, at the little half-smile he gave her.

With a sad, or maybe just tired, smile in return, she asked, "Want to add to the lecturing?"

"No," he said simply. He took the few steps toward her and held out his hand.

Rey's eyebrow quirked. Curious, she took it, and let him pull her up and into a hug she hadn't realized she desperately needed. " _Oh."_

His face nuzzled into the crook of her neck while she took a minute to reprocess that this was their  _normal_  now, and once she had, she relaxed in his arms, sinking into the warmth and solid comfort he was offering.

"That's better," he breathed, sounding as relieved as she felt. "You were… it was like a red haze. Like being lost in an angry fog." He laughed softly. "That doesn't make much sense, but I don't know how else to describe it."

Rey rested back in his hold so she could look up at him, and this time the smile she gave him was easier to conjure up. She grasped at the front of his dark sweater, blushing faintly at the thought that it'd hang mid-thigh on her if she ever had the chance to steal it.

"Thanks. I think I needed this," she admitted.

"I know you did. Convenient power for a boyfriend, huh?"

She blinked. "Boyfriend?"

"Oh. Uh, I guess we didn't talk about it." The confident expression fell as he stammered out an explanation. "I just meant-"

Rey leaned up on her toes, interrupting him with a kiss and murmured a confirmation of "Boyfriend" against his mouth. When she did, he hummed and tightened his hold on her as they kissed.

"My, my. First my roof," Leia scolded. "Then my yard, and now my  _living room?"_

The kiss ended abruptly, and Rey buried her head in his chest so the woman didn't see how red her cheeks were. She heard the low rumbling sound of Ben's groan. "It's not like we knew you'd be walking in, Mom."

Rey peeked over his shoulder and saw Leia's bright (but mischievous) grin from the kitchen. The woman's eyes softened when she saw their embrace, and she said kindly, "Sounds like the three of you had a long day."

There was a jingling noise, and one of Ben's arms flew up to catch something his mother had tossed their way. He frowned at the keys she'd thrown him and glanced at her questioningly.

"Take a night off," she suggested. "Poe and I already came to an agreement. I've got a bottle of wine, and a batch of my double fudge brownies in the oven and  _he_  will keep his comments to himself when we watch my show."

Poe's head poked out from the kitchen. "That wasn't part of the deal! If I'm being made to watch  _Jersey Shore,_  I reserve the right to commentary."

"Oh hush," Leia waved, "You'll love it."

The man rolled his eyes, but relented, and Rey had to cover her mouth so she wouldn't laugh. Ben seemed befuddled, but when Leia followed Poe back into the kitchen, he looked back down at her, and cupped her face.

"You're smiling," he breathed. "I love it when you smile. A real one, I mean - not the ones you give the people at work because you feel like it's polite, and not the ones you put on so people don't know when you're stressed." His voice lowered to almost a whisper, and he said, "There were times, at work, when I'd feel this bubbly, light feeling, and I'd look up and see you smiling at your phone during a break. Part of me always wondered if it was someone… a boyfriend, or something, making you smile. If I'd thought more about that, I think it would have bothered me," he admitted, "But it was just nice to see you happy."

Rey rested her head against his chest and laughed.

"What?"

She laughed harder. "Want to know what I do during my breaks at work?"

"I don't know," he answered tentatively. "Do I?"

"There's a subreddit called  _animals being hilarious_."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not," she snorted. "Come on, you've seen how much time I spend at work. Do you think I've had much time to date lately?"

Ben hummed. "Well, I think we could use a distraction. Think you'd have time for a date tonight?"

The corners of her mouth turned up. "I might."

* * *

Freshly showered and clad in the closest thing dress clothes (nice jeans and a sweater that didn't have a hood) she'd brought to Naboo, Rey slid into a corner booth of the old fashioned '50s diner Ben's uncle owned. Ben slid around the other side, and they met somewhere in the middle, both more interested in staying close than in eating across from each other.

It was so new, but it also wasn't. This - the being around each other regularly - wasn't new, but the change from wanting to dump a cup of coffee on his lap to wanting to kiss him?

That was strange.

His hand landed on her thigh while they looked at the menu, and she sucked in a breath. Ben looked over to her, undoubtedly feeling her nerves and excitement at the exhilarating unfamiliarity of it, and he paused, considering her for a moment.

And  _there_  was that smirk she'd seen on him a hundred times. It grew while he leaned closer and whispered in her ear, while she tried to hold her focus on the menu, "Is this what you needed tonight? A good distraction?"

It was getting easier to reconcile the personas - the socially awkward dork she worked with and the smooth, admittedly sexy, dark Knight he played when the sun went down. As they spent more time together, the two were merging in her mind.

"Yes, actually," Rey nodded. She turned her head toward him, only to find him within kissing distance. Her eyes flicked to his lips.

His mouth opened, and it seemed like he was about to say something, but he ducked his head and caught her in a slow, open-mouthed kiss. His tongue slid along hers until she'd forgotten her plans to order a root beer and whatever a Monte Cristo was, and his hand moved from her thigh to her waist, raising bit by bit until his thumb was rubbing gently at the area just under her breast.

"This is a family restaurant, you two," a gruff, unamused, and unsurprised voice sighed.

They split away, stammering apologies to the tired-looking, sandy and graying haired man, but Ben stopped the moment he saw who'd interrupted.

"Uncle Luke? I thought you only worked here in the mornings."

The intruder (though, since it was his restaurant she could hardly call him that) laughed, and the change from his more serious expression took a decade off his appearance. "Normally, but your mother called - said you'd be bringing by a date, and I should swing by and embarrass you." He winked at Rey. "Didn't think you'd make it so easy for me." He nodded to her, and said, "Sorry to interrupt, but my nephew's never brought a date around before, so I couldn't help myself."

"That's okay. It's nice to meet you," she said. "I'm Rey."

Luke nodded again. "Thought so. Trust me, I've heard all about you. My sister called me the minute Ben showed up with you."

"Oh, of course she did," Ben muttered. "She hasn't told Amilyn yet, right? Rey and I work together, so-"

His uncle burst out into a full belly laugh while Rey watched in confusion.

Ben groaned loudly. "She did, didn't she?"

"What do you think?" Luke said, once he'd stopped laughing. "C'mon kid, do you even need to ask? She called Amilyn before she called me. Your mother's so excited I'm surprised she didn't put us on a conference call with your Uncle Lando."

"I guess I should have expected it," Ben sighed. With a soft and resigned smile, he looked over at her. "Sorry. This isn't exactly how I thought our first date would go."

"Better than disappearing during a stakeout," she shrugged. Then, because his cheeks turned pink, she leaned in and kissed his cheek, not caring that his uncle still stood at one side of their table.

"At least I had a good reason for that."

"Ehhh…"

Ben laughed and nuzzled at her until she was laughing, too, and then Luke cleared his throat again. Rey schooled herself back to  _polite diner customer_  and gave the man an apologetic look. He only rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm heading to Leia's to rescue Poe from her. When I called she said she'd put on  _Real Housewives_ , so I'm dropping by with dinner and a few movies."

He frowned down at them like he was a principal about to give troublemaking children a week of detentions, and then he let out a laugh. "Behave yourselves. Don't traumatize my waitstaff, okay?"

Ben grumbled something, but they said polite goodbyes, and watched the man leave.

"Sorry about that," he cringed. "He can be a little much. Last I knew he stuck to morning shifts. I didn't plan on introducing you to half the family so soon."

Rey hummed. "I think they're nice. Obviously we're not here just to socialize, but you have to admit, this is much better than being stuck in a city neither of us knows, staying in a hotel while we track down a story."

"Oh, I don't know." His voice dropped to a whisper. "At least then we'd have privacy."

She raised an eyebrow. "And why would we need that? What, you  _don't_  enjoy getting caught making out in your family member's diner?"

"No, that's not really my thing," he laughed. "Neither is getting caught by my mother."

Rey paused for a moment, thinking it over, and then she slid out of his hold, and out of the booth. He watched her, tilting his head in confusion.

"Everything okay?"

She held out her hand, and gestured for him to leave the booth, too. "Let's get dinner to go. Come on, we can eat in the car and you can show me where the teenagers in this town go to make out. Don't these little towns always have a  _lovers lane_  sort of place? The diner's nice, but we can't discuss the case here and we can't do certain  _other_  things here, so..."

When she looked up at him, his cheeks were bright red. "You want me to take you somewhere so we can talk about the case and-" he swallowed, and whispered shyly, "and…  _fool around_  in your car? You're not messing with me?"

"You're the empath," she said quietly, "You tell me."

He studied her for a moment, blushed further, and cleared his throat. For a minute Rey wondered what he'd felt, but before she could ask he nodded, and took her hand.

* * *

Fortunately, the waitstaff had no problem boxing up their orders to go. Ben tipped their server well, ghosted an arm around Rey's waist and tried not to act like the gangly teenager he'd been the last time he'd been in town as he walked her out to the car.

Halloween was just around the corner, and he smiled as he saw that the town had decorated the streets with pumpkins and witches and other autumnal accouterments.

"Where to now?" she asked as she pulled the car out of the parking lot.

Ben gestured to one street, balancing their orders with preternatural capability. "Head there, I can show you where my old school was. There's no gate and the deputy who patrols it is a family friend."

"Is there anyone in this town who doesn't fawn over your pretty face?" she teased.

He thought of telling her about the many kids (now adults) who were convinced he was crazy. Newly founded empathic senses wrecked merry hell with a teen's social life in high school.

They ate in relative silence, the lambent light of the moon and parking lot lamps lifting his spirits, as did the company. He kept catching himself staring over at her, and after the third time she caught him, he stopped trying to hide it.

Rey was the kind of beautiful that hit him like a sucker punch to the gut, and he didn't think he'd ever get used to it. She had a way of burrowing her way past his natural defenses, mantle-granted and not, and socked him in the face with the intensity of her reactions.

As they talked over their dinners, her face would take in a secret self-serving glee with every little facet he revealed about himself to this town, and he realized that he was at the center of her latest mystery.

It was an addicting feeling, being the focus of her attention. He supposed that's why he'd practically spelled out his secret to her every time he'd had the chance.

When they were finished, they left the parking lot laughing over something she'd said, driving aimlessly. There were still people out when they did, but those people moved with the resignation of those heading to a warm home and warmer heart, and Ben realized they'd spent two hours shooting the shit about nothing in particular, in his hometown.

It was something he'd never done with another person - not even Poe.

"We should get going," he murmured, testing the waters. His nerves had been shot since she'd suggested leaving the diner, and the expectant air between them was still there; the promise of something new and dangerous and altogether frightening to someone like him. "It's getting late."

Rey's fingers tapped and danced along the steering wheel as they ambled through another street, the one where his favorite hobby shop had been growing up.

"Mm, that's true," she said, after minutes of silence and her exuberance exuding from her like playful faeries against his temple. "But I was thinking we could head somewhere more… secluded."

It was like someone had strung a violin and cut it short. Ben floundered, aiming for a response to the unsaid question. She wasn't messing with him - empathic abilities or no, he knew her well enough to know that. He hadn't even needed to confirm at the diner, but he'd mostly been surprised by her directness. He still was.

With a glance behind him, he blurted out, "This is a small car, I'm not sure we'd fit in the backseat."

He watched in mild horror as her jaw dropped, and she looked over at him briefly, wearing a scandalized expression. " _Ben,_  did you think I was suggesting we have sex in my car?"

"I'm- I- Sorry, I-" He fumbled over words, ready to dive off the nearest cliff until she burst into a fit of giggles.

"Relax Solo, I'm messing with you," she waved. "I know we wouldn't fit in back. I just thought we could pick up where we left off before your uncle interrupted."

"Sounds good," he croaked. It was all he could manage, even though he wanted to recount what his mind had jumped to.

Naboo proper was well on its way to sleep, its citizens long past their evening ablutions and the sight of the town proper far behind them when all the levity and peace occupying Ben's soul were scoured to the skies.

They were somewhere near Leia's house, the high beams of the car the only source of illumination around except for the ominous and heavy weight of the cloudless, when that drumbeat in his chest returned. For a second he confused it with his heartbeat, but then he realized the instinctive dread filling his gut meant it was another thing entirely.

"Stop the car!"

He hadn't meant for his voice to come out as loud as it did, but Ben was far away from caring about anything except the undeniable feeling of danger screaming down the highway of his nervous system.

He'd messaged Rose earlier when he'd stolen some time to himself, letting her know about his Resonance with Bocid earlier. Her response had the typical brevity of most of their interactions.

_Lie low. Don't go looking for trouble. I'll be close._

She hadn't said anything about what to do if trouble found him, and Ben was regretting leaving the matter for later. He'd taken her confidence that they were only interested in him as assurance, except he'd forgotten they'd nearly killed Rey in the first place

The car slowed with the abruptness of a primed catapult. It was a cloudless sky tonight, and the lack of light pollution lent the scenery an ancient, primal draping.

 _Thump thump thump_  went the thing in his chest, calling out to the beast waiting outside.

"What's going on?" Rey asked. "What's out there?"

"Kill the lights."

She did, throwing off the cover of safety that the little light afforded them. Ben did some quick mental math in his head and rolled down the window some. A southern wind glided in, carrying a distinctly living scent with it, and he unbuckled his seat belt.

The road was quiet except for the echoes of car's engine, but even that was muffled. Ben strained his hearing, trying to catch any sign of whatever was out there. Moonlight seemed to whisper around them, but despite the susurrations of the blades of grass and the humming of the breeze, he couldn't hear anything.

That only caused his mounting worry to curl in on itself. He could always hear something: whether it was the body shuddering heart rate of voles, or the squelching crunch of the earth as earthworms ambled through existence, Ben hadn't heard true silence since he was fifteen.

A cold, clammy hand grasped his arm. "Ben," she whispered, "who's that?"

Something had stepped out into the middle of the road. They were cast in shadow, or maybe they stole from the surrounding shadows, cloaking themselves in nonexistence like a person would a jacket. The scent of exotic rain and age limned the inside of his head, and Ben's mind receded, overwhelmed with the foreign sensations.

He tried to say something, found his mouth had gone dry, and then cleared his throat. "We need to head back," he said, keeping his eyes on the thing in the road. It was tall - taller than him, and it hung there, barely standing, swaying like it was fresh from the gallows. He tapped the dashboard with a finger, snapping her out of her trance. "Come on, let's go."

"But what about him?" She inclined her head in the direction of the thing in the road. Ben's eyes tried to move off, to dismiss the shape as a nightmare, but he forced himself to watch it, just in case. "He could be one of the Knights."

It was, but Ben wasn't having this confrontation anywhere within ten miles of another person, let alone someone he cared about.

The figure took a step forward, stepping into Ben's awareness a little more. His mind made out long, powerful limbs. Each capable of ripping a man's arms off.

"Don't worry about him. We need to  _go_."

Any other protest she was about to make died when she saw his expression.

She shifted into reverse, her worry and burgeoning fear twanging like electricity to a lightning rod against his empathic senses. The creature outside took two more lumbering steps, crossing distance with such simple motions as to inspire flavorless terror.

A shaman, his dad had called him. An elemental. A survivor. One of the best friends a man could ask for, but also one of the worst enemies. Bocid Ren was the oldest of the Knights, his naturally long lifespan blessed - or cursed - by the mantle to such a point as to make some civilizations look young in comparison. In tune with the universe around him, Bocid was just like the forest in which his species originated from: peaceful by nature, but when forced to action it was more like a natural disaster.

"What is it?" Rey asked with a whisper, gripping the wheel and adjusting her foot against the pedal.

"A Wookie," he answered, as she started inching the car away, gravel crunches resounding like earthquakes in the deathly still road. "Fast, strong, smart. Dangerous."

"But you can take him, right?"

Ben remembered how he'd gotten his ass kicked by Paige. How she'd toyed with him in the sewers of Hosnia. They had most of the same physical attributes, but whether it was a difference in experience or her portals gave her that much of an advantage, Ben knew the only reason he'd escaped was because Rose interfered.

He wasn't feeling so sanguine about the same thing happening now.

" _Ben?"_

Was that thundering in his ears his heartbeat or Bocid's?

"When I give the signal, run like hell."

Alarm wrapped around her like a restraining set of cuffs. "And what's the signal? Ben, what are you thinking?"

Bocid's form became more distinct, shedding its illusion with every step. Long, matted hair in shades of tree bark; teeth bared in the universal sign of a predator's grin; the stance and bend of a hunter trading stares with prey.

Ben searched the creature's eyes, which were buried atop the furry head of the Wookie. They were sunken in, set deep inside a face that if it were hairless would be lined with countless age lines. The eyes seemed to focus on him, piercing through the residual darkness and space between them.

The rumble that escaped Bocid's form was less a sound and more a heralding thunderclap. Bocid reached up to a pocket in the bandolier it wore and palmed a small cylindrical device in its paw. It looked like a toy.

There was a moment of anticipatory silence and then, a crackle of sound from the comm as the voice of Vara Ren announced the start of the chaos.

"Acknowledged," said Vara, "Target locked. Engaging peaceful negotiations."

His danger senses flared.

Rey had already slammed her foot onto the gas by the time he got around to yelling, "Now!"

The car's wheels spun in place, spewing rubber into the pavement, before inertia kicked in and suddenly they were flying down the street, spewing gravel and dust into the air like tidal waves as they reached sixty miles per hour in seconds.

They missed a bend and ran right off into the tangled wire of an old abandoned fence, ripping up a post to drag behind - or in front, from Ben's point of view - them. The smooth road turned to the uneven and choppy level of a field, ripping up grass and digging trenches the further they got, deathly ratcheting building up underneath the car with every second they spent reversing away from the maws of monsters.

Ben didn't look book at where they were going. He was too busy staring at the Knight running at them in a loping, almost easy-looking run, gaining ground faster and faster with each pound of his long beastly legs.

A howl filled the cabin of the car, unearthly in its origin, and Ben didn't have to be an empath to feel the sorrow, the rage embedded at the core of its being.

 _Pretender_ , the howl accused.  _Pretender!_

And with every foot, every inch Bocid gained, gaining ground as easily as they lost it amidst their slapdash escape attempt, Ben felt the pound of something unfathomable against his mind. A battering ram of emotions that'd been tempered by time and wisdom, stoked to a rage that could only come from personal insult.

If Vara had been angry with Ben for daring to be Kylo Ren, then Bocid was  _furious._


End file.
